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The Screaming Moderate

State of the Union, a new Donald Trump?

1/31/2018

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Stylistically, President Trump’s State of the Union address last night was his best delivered speech since he’s been in office. He came across as steady, thoughtful, disciplined, and he seemed to have a message of bipartisanship and faith in the American people. There was, mostly, less “me” and more “you” in the speech.

Substantively, it was classic the real Donald Trump. While he didn’t call out “Cryin’ Chuck” Schumer, he did shove his repeal of the Obamacare mandate in the faces of all who supported that law, while calling for bipartisanship.

He called for a bipartisan approach to immigration but also seemed to be linking the murderous MS13 gang with what’s bad about immigration.

I counted only two (but I may have missed one) references to what “I” have accomplished and he mostly read the teleprompter which talked about the great American people. His dog whistle messages may have been summarized in this line from his speech:

“Americans are dreamers too.”

Yes, Mr. President, and Dreamers are Americans, too.

Why separate the Dreamers from the rest of us? All that separates them is the federal government, as it has promised, as this president has promised, passing a law granting them the citizenship they have earned.

But I digress (though not that much).

He called for unity in our country but he offered no olive branch to anyone. We can solve immigration, he said, and repeated his call for a great wall between us and Mexico. The only thing missing from his campaign speech was, “and Mexico will pay for it.” He knew then, and he knows now, that isn’t going to happen.

He called for what I thought should have been his first legislative priority in office, legislation to improve our country’s infrastructure. It truly might have been passed with strong bipartisan support, which would have set the stage for a different kind of presidency. But now he’s calling for an infrastructure package of $1.45 trillion. The fine print, though, says the federal government will pay only about $200 billion of that cost, with the rest made up from state and local governments and, he hopes, the private sector. We’ll see what the private sector will kick in but I know if the state and local officials pitch in, it means more taxes for all of us.

His speech included, of course, a Trumpian amount of lies, mistruths and misrepresentations. Among them, according to the fact checkers:

He claims he has brought unemployment among African Americans down to 6.8 percent, the lowest in history. Partly true. The unemployment rate when President Obama left office among African Americans was 7.7 percent when Trump was sworn in. And during the campaign he called all unemployment statistics gather by the government a fraud. Now they are his bible.

That’s another thing, when he quotes how well the economy is doing, he counts from the day he was elected, and not the day he was sworn in. The economy is humming, right now, but it was on a good trend when administrations changed hands. His promise of his tax cut certainly has contributed to the economy.

Where his credit-taking is iffier is in regulations cut. He says he’s cut regulations more than any other president in his first year. Hard to prove, since records don’t go back too far. But also, according to those blessed fact checkers, most of the regulations he “cut” weren’t regulations at all. They were proposed regulations that had not taken effect.
And, research by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, shows that regulatory restrictions actually grew during Trump’s first year, but at a slower pace than other presidents in their first year.

And that booming stock market he hails as his gift to America was booming before he took office also. In fact, here come those fact checkers again, the S&P index gained about 33.3 percent from inauguration through late January in Obama’s time and that compares to 25.5 percent under Trump. Again, not complaining about the increase, just sayin’. And, the market has had significant drops the last two days.

The President also implied that immigrants are committing crimes at a higher rate, thus his continued references to MS13. The truth is research shows that immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than native-born Americans.

There’s one other quote from his speech that felt ominous when he read it:

 “Tonight, I call on the Congress to empower every Cabinet secretary with the authority to reward good workers, and to remove federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people.”

Think on that for a minute. Right now, federal career employees are protected against will nillly political firings, as they should be. What Trump seems to be saying, for example, is: “Once I release that ‘secret’ memo, my Attorney General should be allowed to fire whoever I want him to fire.”

In other words, nice packaging, same old Donald Trump.




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Quite a week

1/23/2018

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Picture
As with every week (day, hour, minute), the last several days have been filled with drama, suspense, tweets, a government shutdown and a porn star claiming she had an affair with the President. Just another few days in the Trump presidency.

The Shutdown. The short shutdown produced a President who loves the spotlight not appearing publicly for several days and then claiming credit for resolving the shutdown, even though we thus far have seen no evidence of his direct role in the reopening of government. The story is congressional leaders told him "we got this." But, Donald J. Trump enjoys taking credit for things he had nothing to do with, as we’ve learned. As with all shutdowns, this one ended because of politics. Senate Minority Leader Schumer was under various pressures, Majority Leader McConnell too had his pressures. They settled the problem, for three weeks anyway. Now the big question is “will McConnell keep his word” that immigration will be dealt with as long as the government remains open? It will be difficult to weasel out of that caveat-filled promise, but we’ll see. The promise was yesterday, which was a long time ago in this Washington.

The talking stick. When my kids were toddlers, if one, or more, was misbehaving, the threat delivered to them was “don’t make me take out the Bold Spoon!” The Bold Spoon was a wooden mixing spoon. Just the threat of it put terror in my kids’ hearts! Not much has changed. Maine Sen. Susan Collins used a “talking stick” to control the discussion among about 20 Democratic and Republican moderate senators gathered in her office with the aim of ending the shutdown. And, it worked! One could only talk when he or she possessed the talking stick. Maybe she has discovered the way to get both sides talking to each other instead of at each other! Maybe.

For one brief shining moment…Camelot! That group in Collins’ office did spur a compromise to reopen the federal government, for three weeks. But also, for that moment, we saw how the Senate is supposed to operate, talking and debating all sides of an issue but then finding ways to the middle ground. That is what the founders foresaw, somehow, when they created our government –they saw the Congress as a great deliberative body. We have not seen that picture in recent decades. But for the briefing shining moment in Collins’ office, these senators showed it can be done.

The Porn Star and the President. Sounds like a movie title, no? It could be. It’s been discovered that prior to the 2016 election, a lawyer for Trump paid $130,000 to a porn star who says she and the then-not president, had an affair. And the affair came not long after his new wife, Melania, gave birth to their son. You can believe or not believe the story. I happen to believe it, largely because that lawyer is not denying a payment was made and his reputation is as Trump’s fixer, they say. The story fits, too, the image/reputation Trump carved for himself when he was “just” Donald J Trump, alleged billionaire. He was a ladies man, he liked everyone to think. Now, that side of Trump isn’t talked about by himself or his sycophants because that’s not the image he wants now. But, it might be a good movie.

Women athletes confront their abuser. Women who were abused by Dr. Lawrence Nassar, the former medicine guru who was supposedly relieving them of pain from their sports and now is a convicted sex abuser, confronted Nassar during his sentencing hearing. He tried to be excused from sitting there listening to them because of the mental strain listening to more than 100 women testify about his abuses was causing him. The young women, many abused when they were in the low to mid-teens, needed that time to try to begin healing from this abuser’s abuse. The judge, of course, denied his request. So, he sits there and listens. He should thank his lucky stars he only had to bear up to hear their stories, unlike what they endured from their then-trusted doctor.

Business’ ‘largesse’ to their employees. President Trump and his sycophants are praising companies who have announced, since his tax bill passed, that they are giving bonuses and/or increasing wages and benefits. Trump claims this was because his bill is so good. Partly true. The bill may be the catalyst to announce these “gifts” early. According to the New York Times:

“Bank of America’s bonuses will cost the bank $145 million in 2018, or about 5 percent of the nearly $2.7 billion in savings it is expected to reap in 2018 from a lower, 21 percent corporate tax rate. Apple’s bonuses will cost $300 million, a fraction of the $40 billion, at least, that the tech giant is saving from a single provision in the law, which allows it to return earnings held overseas at less than half the rate it would have paid under the old system.”

Also, the bonuses being handed out are a one-time cost to the companies, unlike the affect a pay raise would have on their bottom lines. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to see the workers enjoying some benefit from this so-called “middle-class tax cut” but the truth is a little different. In many cases, for them, this is a one-time perc while their employers’ benefit never expires. Plus, some of the companies, according to the Times and common sense, are giving the bonuses/pay raises to curry favor with the President. And nothing curries favor like making Trump look good.



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The President's health report

1/18/2018

1 Comment

 
It’s a helluva world when you doubt the veracity of the White House doctor, a Navy officer, who briefed the press for over an hour yesterday slotting the President into the “healthy” category with no major issues.

In watching that briefing and reading some doctors who analyzed Trump’s test results, I have a feeling the doctor wasn’t lying but certainly was spinning the results in their best light.

To be, at best, one pound from obesity, 71 years old and with some not great blood test results, my guess is if Trump were a “normal” patient the doc’s honest assessment would be: “Donald, you’re in pretty good shape for an obese guy who doesn’t exercise beyond riding around in a golf cart, stopping to take a swing for a few seconds , but you are at high risk for an event if you don’t change your lifestyle. You can’t change the stress that comes with the job you have but you can change other risk factors to improve your overall health. Cut out the fats and exercise more.”

I actually was surprised when the doctor said Trump was more willing to change his diet than to do some exercise. For someone who apparently has never exercised, beyond some tennis and a lot of golf, to say he’d rather give up well done steaks and the more than occasional Big Mac, and exercise, well, I’ll take book on how much exercise he winds up doing. And I have a feeling he wasn’t ordering the salad the next meal he had.

In any event, his health isn’t the main thing I focused on because who knows if the positive report released was as positive as it sounds. And I don’t doubt the doctor’s credentials or honesty – but I have to believe he was spinning to please Trump yesterday.

We’ve all seen how Trump repeats himself just in the clips we see on the news or watching him divert from his speech text. That could be just the way he talks but I heard him do some interviews some time ago and he wasn’t repeating like he is now. A speech problem or a neurological problem, hey, I couldn’t even play a doctor on TV so I don’t know.

Being a stroke patient, I also remember how in my therapy I was shown a picture of a camel, and, when asked to identify what animal it was, I couldn’t come up with the word. Didn’t mean my health was at risk, but meant I wasn’t yet over the effects of the stroke. I certainly wasn’t suffering from dementia or early Alzheimer’s but I wasn’t clicking on all cylinders either. And, even with that minor glitch in my health, I probably shouldn’t have been in charge of the nuclear codes either.

I give the President credit for allowing so much information to be released, I really do. It was a lot of numbers. And I don’t question the doctor’s reputation, he worked for two other presidents and, from all we know, gave honest evaluations of their health. But when Dr. Sanjay Gupta gives his view on CNN…well, Dr. Gupta has a lot of credibility. And when the major papers in the country quote docs who head cardiovascular clinics, their analysis affects my thinking.

I don’t think we know the whole truth about Trump's health, and that’s really the problem under Trump’s presidency. I’m even doubting a reputable doctor. And I'm thinking Trump just produced another good TV show to watch. Call it: "Doctors Trying Not to Lie."

That’s what he’s done to my way of thinking in just a year. And that is not a good thing.
While there are good things happening in the county—the stock market, corporations saying they’ll invest more in the United States than elsewhere, for example – what’s also happening is a diminution of trust in the country.

Not a good thing.


 [BJC1]
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'The Post', a movie to remind us why the media are essential

1/18/2018

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I saw the movie “The Post” yesterday and you can’t help but think about our current situation while watching the ending, and witnessing a replay of the difficult decisions made by the late Katherine Graham when she ran The Washington Post.

Major decisions not just on behalf of the First Amendment but major because she was a woman at a time women were not taken seriously and she went against the counsel of nearly every man advising her. Her reputation and the paper's financial future was at stake almost as much as this country's credibility. It truly was a great moment in journalism history and in the history of this country. The Post uncovered lies the American people had been told abut the war in Vietnam by presidents and Cabinet members from Administration to Administration and party to party.

And if you can watch that movie and not clearly see what Donald Trump’s mantra of “fake news” is doing to our country, then ..well, I don't know.

Movies tend, of course, to often over-dramatize a moment. But Mrs. Graham’s decision to publish the Pentagon Papers at the risk of going to prison was a monumental decision.  It was not over-hyped in the movie. It turned the Post from a local paper to a national paper that others still look to for honest, courageous reporting.

I was a reporter for a local paper many years ago. Even covering local issues and politics as a reporter you had a clear sense of what was expected of you: covering news objectively and looking out first for your readers, not the people you covered. Did I make errors? Occasionally, of course, who doesn’t? But we’d correct those errors quickly. Did I ever make up a story? Never.

And it’s truly scary to hear the President cry “fake news” about CNN or the Washington Post or New York Times, yet believe the trash he reads in the tabloids. This is a man who questioned his predecessor’s birth place, who repeats conspiracy theories he reads on right-wing web sites and who delivers “alternate facts” several times a day. This is a man who calls "fake news" any news that doesn't make him look good.

You may support his policies – fine, we can debate the value of policies – but if you can go watch “The Post” and not feel a pride in journalists and the risks they take to inform you, then Trump has affected this country too much in the wrong way.


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Trump: A racist or just a bad guy?

1/12/2018

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Just when you think President Trump has gone as low as he can go, he shows us there was a hidden staircase to go lower. This stairway wasn’t well hidden because we’ve heard words come out of his mouth before that have implied/indicated/demonstrated – choose your word – he is a racist.

The latest comment, spoken in the Oval Office with a bipartisan meeting of senators and House members, for those of you who have been napping since yesterday or are trying to stay away from the news, was: “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” He was referring to the African continent and Haiti. It was during a conversation on immigration.

The President, in typical Trump fashion, hasn’t denied he said but at the same time has denied he said it.

His enablers who appeared on TV last night to give the Republican view all danced and twisted themselves into pretzels to try to explain the President’s quote. They could not deny his comments because even the White House wasn’t denying he said it. But they weren’t condemning him either. It was disgusting to watch.

So is the President a racist or just a very bad man? You decide.

Some are pinning the racist label on him. I really don’t know if he’s a racist. You have to be inside his head – a place I do not wish to visit – to know for sure. But he definitely has a long history of racist remarks and actions.

The Fox News people I’ve seen quoted (honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever watched the channel) all defend him saying that this is the way people talk in blue color bars and those people like what he said.

Now, when younger, I hung around “blue collar” bars more than I should have. And while the conversation could get raunchy, I don’t recall it getting racist. I’m not saying those bars don’t exist but I also don’t think we have been electing those bar folks as President of the United States. And I do not believe Trump has ever hung around in blue-collar bars. Never.

But most of us want a President who tries to lead us to a better place, to aspire to be that "shining city on the Hill." We'll never be perfect but we sure can be better. That's why folks from "shithole" and other countries want to come here. That's why they cry when they see the State of Liberty. Let us remember the quote she bears:


"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Let's also remember that each of us, unless we are native Americans, came from somewhere else. And, likely, when those folks came here they were leaving "shithole" countries because, well, if they weren't being treated badly or wanted more opportunity, why would they leave their home country?

I think most of us have accepted that Trump says racist things, does things to appeal to his “base,” says one thing and does another, lies, tweets and bumbles his way through his first term.

Has he done “good things?” I don’t know. He has eliminated some regulations, which business likes; he’s appointed a conservative Supreme Court justice which conservatives like; he’s been undoing many things his predecessor did which Republicans like; he’s led a big “tax cut's” adoption and, after it passed, got honest and said it was done, really, because it would help the business community and as goes the business community goes the economy.

I worked at the Republican National Committee for five different chairmen. I was a registered Republican and took all the crap folks threw at me as they accused all Republicans of being anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Hispanic, pro-life, anti-anyone who is various shades of brown. I was none of those things nor were the people I worked with. Though the party often played to those who believe those things because, well, it got Republicans elected.

I also worked with the late GOP Chairman Lee Atwater to denounce David Duke, former head of the Ku Klux Klan, when he announced his candidacy to office as a Republican. I also worked with former RNC Chairman Rich Bond to write his farewell speech saying the party needed to work to get rid of all the "anti-" things people believed about it. Albeit, that was his farewell speech and not his inaugural speech. Better late than never, maybe.

At the same time, I oversaw an outreach office aimed at improving the party’s popularity with blacks, browns, Hispanics and homosexual men and women. We didn’t make great strides in those areas, obviously. And what Donald Trump has done is killed any chances of the party making any strides with those groups for a long time, and maybe forever.

Trump applauded “my black” in the audience when campaigning and  claims he is the “least racist man in the world.” The North Koreans, it’s been said in recent days have been cozying up with the South Koreans to drive a “wedge” in the U.S./South Korea relationship. No, Mr. Trump says, because he “knows more about wedges than anyone in the world.” My guess is he likely was thinking about golf when he said that – a more believable statement and equally as untrue.

He also implied in an interview yesterday with the Wall Street Journal  that he has a very good relationship with Kim Jon Ung, the dictator of North Korea – leading folks to believe that he actually has spoken with Kim, which is as unlikely as Trump being the most non-racist person you’ll ever meet. Then again, the President wouldn't say if he's spoken with Kim because, well, that's what Donald Trump does. Imply things.

If anyone had any doubts about who the President really is, this latest comment should convince them. You still may support him. You still may vote for him. But know, too, that you are voting for a man who says racist things, says positive things about white supremacists, and lies about five times a day, that we know of, according to entities that track his comments.

Nearly one full year into his term, we for sure know who he is now.

And the longer Republicans in Congress or the Washington community don’t speak out when he makes comments like this, the more they are as guilty as he is of destroying not just their party but the United States’ reputation in the world.

(Note to my friends who read this and who support the President. I know your arguments. I don't agree with them. I don't know if Trump is a racist, but he definitely is a bad guy. You can support his policies but I will never understand how you can support his behavior.)

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Trump's mental state needs to be examined

1/5/2018

1 Comment

 
This no longer is about Donald Trump becoming presidential or resigning or even the special counsel’s investigation. Now, it is totally about the enablers – Trump’s staff, former staff, the Cabinet, and the Congress (meaning Republicans in the Congress). Yes, you folks are at fault now. It is on your heads.

Legitimate questions are being raised not only from laymen but, now, by professionals who meet officially to brief Congressmen, albeit who have not examined Trump, about his mental stability. His constant repeating when explaining something, his apparent paranoia and narcissism and his purposely telling about 2,000 lies, by official counts, since he’s been president. His denial that it is his voice on the Access Hollywood tape (after he admitted it was him, and apologized for his comments and after Billy Bush, the other voice on the tape, confirmed it was Trump. If anyone had any doubts).  His denial that Paul Manafort or Steve Bannon were players in his campaign – but now merely “staff.”

His constant “fake news” taunts which some citizens actually believe. His personal lawyer’s letter to the author and publlisher of an unflattering book. (My guess is that book does have its flaws but the author also claims to have tapes of some of his interviews. He should release them.)

He even thinks the FBI is against him because, gosh almighty, some agents gave money to Hillary Clinton’s campaign! Hell, maybe some agent’s gave to his campaign, does them make him biased toward the President and thus disqualified from investigating him? Oh, wait, in his mind, that would only be fair.

We all know this is not normal.

I can deal with differences on policy -- that goes on all the time. But we barely can get to the policies because we focus on his style, personality and mere existence as a clown, a buffoon, a charlatan, a man with no curiosity or desire to learn some of what he doesn’t know, or at least listen to people who know what he doesn’t know.

We, and the cable news channels, focus on his behavior (important) but at the expense of devoting time to  his policies. So many of us know not what his sick administration is actually doing when it rolls back regulations. I agree, this country is over-regulated. But it the devil is in the details, not a whole sale reduction in all regulations.

What has the world come to be when you trust nothing that comes out of the President’s mouth? Even his staff ignores what he tweets, despite his former spokesman, Sean Spicer, informing us when he was in office that tweets are official presidential statements.

He says one thing, his secretary of state says another and the policy goes the secretary’s way as if that didn’t happen. What?

It's a helluva day when you start rooting for Steve Bannon.

This morning, posted that the mainstream media is not reporting on the huge stock market gains during his presidency. Fact is, they are. And, fact is, the gain still doesn’t match the gains under the former president, but he doesn’t tell us that when he tweets. Fact is – he should get some credit for the stock market gains.

Fine, you now have credit. Now, keep us out of nuclear war.

Seriously, and this is quite serious, we all have wondered about his mental health for a long time. For a while it was half-joking. Now, it’s all serious.

He will undergo a physical on Jan. 12. Typically, our presidents release a summary of the findings of such physicals. Why do I already not believe what will be reported? He once changed his listed height so he wouldn’t qualify as being obese (I am not making this up).  If he has his way, and he will, he will lie in that report.

Trump’s spokesman said the doctor himself will brief the press on the physical.  We will see. And, his physical will not include a mental workup, which is what most of us are more interested in.

By the way, who is his White House doctor? When the administration began, he said he would keep on his predecessor’s doctor. I did a search and can find no record of him appointing a doctor. So, it will be his predecessor’s doctor with the stethoscope.

If Trump doesn’t like the report, will he blame politics because the doc took care of Obama? The doc is a member of the military, which is the one government entity he constantly praises. Will that change after his physical? Because bad things about him are only said by those who are against him politically, in his mind.

Which brings me back to his enablers – his Cabinet, staff and the Congress. They may say negative things about him privately, but it is time to go public with the facts.

 Now.


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    B. Jay Cooper

    B. Jay is a former deputy White House press secretary to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He also headed the communications offices at the Republican National Committee, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Yale University. He is a former reporter and is the retired deputy managing director of APCO Worldwide's Washington, D.C., office.
    He is the father of three daughters and grandfather of five boys and one girl. He lives in Marion, Mass.

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