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The Screaming Moderate

Racism plus alleged murder/election tampering

5/27/2020

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A bunch of stories caught my (and I’m sure your) eye over the last few days. They were:

  • President Trump’s latest complaint with social media as Twitter labelled a tweet or two of his with its new “fact check” click-though to learn the truth about  allegations he’s made. It did not, though, label or remove his tweets furthering a baseless conspiracy theory about a congressional staffer’s 2001 death.
  • The white woman in New York’s Central Park who called police claiming a black man was threatening her, when all he did was ask her to leash her dog, as the law required in the area they were in.
  • The senseless killing of a black man thought to be passing counterfeit money whose capture resulted in a white policeman putting his knee on the man’s neck to hold him down. An action that resulted in the man’s death.
  • Trump’s mocking of his likely election opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, for wearing a face mask in public as if it is a sign of weakness.
  • The President’s continuing effort to sabotage the November election if he should lose claiming, falsely, that mail-in ballots are rich with tampering.

Where to begin?

Okay, Trump. Here is a man whose election was aided considerably by his using Twitter as his primary communication method. This morning he Tweeted that social media is silencing conservatives and threatening “we will strongly regulate or close them down before we can ever allow this to happen.”

Trump’s ability to use Twitter the last few years to voice whatever grievance, complaint or fake conspiracy theory he chooses has been a huge boon to his bypassing the media to talk directly to voters (really, though, his base). Among his biggest whoppers of his career are his numerous tweets suggesting that former Congressman and now TV host Joe Scarborough murdered a congressional staffer in 2001. A theory that has been debunked by -- oh my what do you call those things? --  oh, yes, facts.

Also, while he appeared regularly on Scarborough’s MSNBC program during the 2016 campaign (saving him millions in advertising dollars and greatly boosting his candidacy) now he bites the hand that fed him because the host has been critical of Trump. He will stand for no criticism.

The coroner ruled it an accidental death and Scarborough was 900 miles away from the area the day it occurred. Trump’s mouthpiece, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, backed up Trump’s theory form the White House podium yesterday. When asked why Trump keeps tweeting about this and what he is after to resolve the issue, McEnany diverted and pointed the finger at Scarborough for an interview he did with Don Imus in 2003, part of which included Imus raising this issue and Scarborough chuckling and trying to move off the topic.

This is important not only because the President of the United States (who has falsely called himself the country's chief law enforcement officer) is accusing Scarborough of murder. The woman’s widower sent a letter to the Twitter CEO asking him to take down the inaccurate tweets because of the pain it causes her family and himself. This man was so affected by his wife’s death that his weight ballooned to 400 pounds (he since has trimmed down). He has never remarried and lives in the same house he shared with his wife.  

In short, there is a human tragedy going on here that Trump and his brazenly lying press secretary are ignoring for what they apparently see as a political benefit. You tell me what that benefit is. I only  see revenge by Trump on Scarborough.

The woman in Central Park was with her dog in an area frequented by birdwatchers. One birdwatcher, an African American man, asked her to leash her dog, as the law requires in that area. She not only refused but called the police, while being videoed by the man, claiming she was being attacked by a black man.

The result of this episode? She lost her dog and her job. Not equal to the pain she inflicted on the man by claiming an attack which has been taken for what it is – an action fueled by racism. She  later apologized.

Meanwhile, in Minnesota, police took into custody a black man thought to be passing counterfeit money in a store. Most of this episode was also caught on video and went viral. The video shows the man not resisting arrest yet one white cop held him on the ground by placing his knee on the man’s neck/windpipe. The man complained he couldn’t breathe. Onlookers begged the cop to take his knee off the man’s neck, but he didn’t. The man died. The cop and three of his colleagues, who did nothing to stop the cop at the scene, have been fired.

This is another in a long series of similar well-publicized incidents around the country, that we know about.

Trump is making fun of Biden because Biden, as Trump’s government has advised Americans to do, wore a face mask in public to protect folks around him in case he has the coronavirus. Trump has made this a manhood checkpoint. He refuses to wear a mask in public in fear, apparently, of how he’d look to the media and the public.

Then there is Trump's claim that mail-in balloting, being allowed in many states because of the coronavirus, is rampant with forgeries. History, though, shows that isn't true but Trump is laying markers for election complaints if he loses in November.

In a TV story over the weekend about people heading to the beaches after being cooped up in quarantine, a young man was not wearing a mask and told an inquiring reporter if the President refuses to wear one, so does he. Did someone say role model?

What connects all these stories? A diminution of us as a society and a democracy.  That isn’t all Trump’s fault. He is supposed to be a role model. I can’t imagine there are people who would hold him out as such. But, there are. He is supposed to be the leader of the country, all of it not just his perceived base.

Has Trump ordered cops to kill black people? No. He says, however, there are “good” people on both sides when he talks about a couple of clearly racial incidents during his presidency – thus protecting his “creds” among racists and also trying to placate others who despise the practices.

Again, Trump isn’t the cause of our society and system of government slowly changing dramatically, but his presidency has overseen a further deterioration. Why? I don’t know – the evidence suggests he wants to be a dictator in this country. Supporters of his can say that’s ridiculous but many of us can make a good case for it.

The sad thing is that if he loves this country and its values as much as he says, he would do things to lift it up, not tear it down. He could change the societal trajectory if he wants to.


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News at warp speed

5/20/2020

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The news continues to move along at warp speed and the President named the leadership of his Operation Warp Speed, aimed at getting a coronavirus vaccine as soon as possible, maybe as early as the end of this year in his telling.

Let’s start there:

Operation Warp Speed. Trump named the operation’s leadership including its leader, Monsef Slaovi, a former executive at GlaxoSmithKline. During the announcement Slaovi teased the crowd with news that he has seen good early reports on a vaccine, not mentioning which one. The next day we learned that vaccine was, surprise, being developed by his old company, in which he still holds millions of dollars of stock. Not surprisingly, after the company announced its progress on a vaccine, the stock market rose. Now, I hope the news about the vaccine is true, believe me, but how the sequence of events played out is curious, no?

Trump abruptly leaves press conference. Trump held a press conference in the Rose Garden which, not surprisingly, turned testy. At one point, Weijia Jiang, an Asian American reporter for CBS, asked why Trump constantly touts the statistic that the U.S. has given more coronavirus tests than any other country as if it’s the most important thing. Trump quickly became testy and said, “Why don’t you ask China that question?” Jiang asked why he chose to ask her that question. Some took his reaction as racist. He also pulled a similar move a few years ago when April Ryan, an African American reporter, asked a question about the Congressional Black Caucus and Trump responded, do you know them? You want to set up the meeting?

“Obamagate.” Trump has accused his predecessor, Barrack Obama, of crimes he says are among the worst in American history. When pressed to name what the crime was, Trump chose to attack the reporter, The Washington Post’s Philip Rucker, saying “you know what it is!” No one knows what it is except an attempt to raise false criminal issues against Obama as he did against Hillary Clinton four years ago, which led to chants during his rallies of “lock her up!” and cemented the bonds among his base. Trump even has tried to get his Senate BFF Lindsay Graham to call Obama and Joe Biden as witnesses in an inquiry into the Russian collusion investigation. Even Graham, who has been a caddy (metaphorically) carrying Trump’s clubs, refused. The Obamagate allegation isn’t getting much traction other among his base but it’s not for lack of trying. It also raises a question as to whether this is smart politics for Trump. Obama is the most popular figure in the Democratic Party right now. Well, maybe just behind his wife, Michelle. And Trump is going to need to again attract swing voters to win reelection.

Trump takes drug. Okay, the drug he is supposedly taking is hydroxychlorine, which is a well-known help to malaria sufferers and Lupus patients. Some say it also can be effective against the coronavirus though the Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning against that use because there is not sufficient data. Trump now claims he’s been taking it for a couple of weeks after discussions with his White House physician. That physician issued a statement saying he’d discussed the matter with Trump many times and concluded there were more upsides than downsides in taking it. But, he never said he prescribed it for Trump. Trump also has said in recent days he may stop taking it soon but he wanted to see for himself if it worked and there were no bad side effects. Personally, I don’t think he’s really taking it. I think he sees it as another issue he can leverage with his base – how I don’t really understand. He also has been saying he may come off it soon. Why? If he’s really using it as protection against getting the virus and he feels it’s working, why come off it?

Partisan politics or? If you’re paying attention you notice that Trump not only makes everything about himself but he sees anyone who agrees with him as pro-Trump and anyone against him anti-Trump. Of course he’s transactional so that could reverse tomorrow with someone. Utah Senator Mitt Romney is one of the latest examples. Romney, a Republican never known as a risk taker, lately is the strongest voice in the Senate questioning some of Trump’s actions. Romney most recently has criticized Trump for firing several Inspectors General (IG) whose job it is to root out fraud, waste and abuse in the government. Those IGs recently either issued reports criticizing Trump or have indicated they are investigating Trump Administration actions (again, that’s their job). Romney now apparently is dead to Trump. Trump again sees everything not so much through a “Republican vs Democrat” lens but through a “Trump vs anti-Trump” lens. It indeed is all about him. That’s a difficult way to run a country, or a business. Then again, Trump’s business acumen as has been broadly reported was not hugely successful. If anyone thinks Trump is about the Republican Party or its (dead?) goals and values, she is dead wrong. It’s all about Trump.

Partisan politics or?  Part 2. Trump operatives are seeking out “extremely pro-Trump” doctors to go on television to promote reviving the economy now without meeting the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). I don’t recall doctors ever being recruited for such a blatant political reason before.  And, with government doctors and doctors in major medical facilities and schools laying out the case for taking this pandemic seriously, if this Trump consortium of doctors is recruited and used, the American public will get even more mixed messages on how they should conduct themselves during this “plague,” as Trump refers to it. This will be one more test of: is Trump looking out for the health of the country’s citizens or the health of his reelection campaign? Plus it seems hypocritical to use doctors for this reason when Trump isn’t looking to government doctors to advise him on economics.

Sociopath. Apropos of nothing, the seven symptoms of a sociopath's personality are:  Glibness and superficial charm; manipulative and cunning; grandiose sense of self; pathological lying; lack of shame, guilt or remorse; shallow emotions; incapacity for love; need for stimulation.

 

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While you can't pay attention ...

5/11/2020

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If you don’t think that Donald Trump and his Administration threaten our country’s basic values, traditions and laws, then you haven’t been paying attention. Of course it's hard to keep up with the news and provide for your family's needs during a pandemic.

What is happening is not normal and a second term only would free him from whatever bonds may bind him right now.

News runs by our eyes so quickly that we don’t take the time to see the different stories and how they look taken together.

Among the news items you may have missed just last week, the White House pulled back its document laying out for states and businesses what a safe return to business as usual would require. Among the prerequisites on the list prepared by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) was that the location go 14 days without an increase in Covid19 cases. That’s out the window now along with many other sensible health requirements.

The White House just tossed those last week with the White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany saying that the head of the CDC, Dr. Robert Redfield, had not signed off on them. That was a lie. Redfield did sign off on the list based on internal emails obtained by the Associated Press. The order to shelve the guidance, according to the AP, came from the “highest levels of the White House.”

Also last week, Attorney General William Barr announced his department is dropping its case against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn claiming, basically, that procedure wasn’t properly followed. In effect he’s saying that the investigation should not have been started, and thus Flynn was interviewed about an investigation that shouldn’t be happening so his lies don’t count. Remember, Flynn twice admitted to prosecutors and the court that he lied during the investigation. In pleading guilty in court Flynn said, “I recognize that the actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong, and through my faith in God, I am working to set things right.”

So far, no one can find a precedent for Barr’s action. President Trump was likely to pardon Flynn but Barr’s action removes that from Trump’s to-do list, thus protecting the president from issuing Flynn a pardon which definitely would have been a big campaign issue this year.

Waiting in the wings is Roger Stone, a very close ally of Trump’s for decades. Stone has been sentenced to more than three years in prison after being convicted in November of, among other crimes, lying to Congress, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

Barr’s Justice Department charged and prosecuted Stone. And Barr had agreed with the prosecution. Now Barr is looking into whether Stone’s sentence was over the top. The betting is Barr finds that it was too harsh especially after Trump said after the announcement of the Flynn charge withdrawal that there was “more to come” in what he claims was a “hoax” investigation into Russia ties to his 2016 campaign. By the way, after Barr announced his intent to have Flynn’s charge withdrawn, the White House announced Trump had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed the development. Why he did that is unclear but minds may wonder about it. Staff said other issues were discussed also.

In Flynn’s case, the judge needs to rule on whether the charges can be dropped. The judge is Emmet G. Sullivan. Precedent from the Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia District leaves Sullivan little room to do anything but grant the government’s motion to drop the charges. (While I believe judges are not influenced by political issues or parties, Sullivan last two appointments came from Republican presidents.)

These two developments trump (pun not intended) another activity that occurred that is begging for investigation.

Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law and a senior White House advisor, has been behind Project Airbridge, which the Administration has touted as part of a historic mobilization “moving heaven and earth” to find and deliver medical supplies from other countries to U.S. hotspots. In exchange for taxpayer-funded flights (which have cost nearly $1 million per trip), the agreement states that the companies will deliver half of the cargo to administration-identified hot spots. The companies decide where they can sell the other half for profit, with the transportation fully funded by taxpayer dollars. Little reporting is available to determine where the equipment was delivered, neither the public half nor the private half.

Kushner is the family wunderkind who has been assigned to bring peace to the Middle East, reform the criminal justice system, build the border wall, be the primary White House liaison with his father-in-law’s campaign and more. He also established a rogue White House task force made up of his government allies, private sector business people and investor types which shadows the White House Task Force on the coronavirus led by the Vice President. Kushner’s task force makes requests around the government that cause confusion during a pandemic of who’s in charge and which requests get filled first, the Vice President-led task force, or the President’s son-in-law’s.

A side point to Project Airbridge: when the states begged for the federal government to lead the process for purchasing necessary medical supplies to short circuit states bidding against each other, Trump famously told the governors that the federal government is not a “shipping clerk” and would not do that. Apparently the President was wrong because now the Administration (over) hypes its shipping program as a huge success.

I say over hypes because many claim that the supplies delivered under this program have not been as many as the Administration claims, there are no public records of where they went and who requested them. Kushner has also forwarded equipment requests from Trump loyalists, including a couple of Fox news talking heads.

Another news story last week was speculation that Trump wants to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray. Trump apparently feels Wray is “disloyal.” Why? Wray was interviewed in 2019 by ABC News. In that interview Wray was asked about the FBI being part of a “deep state.” Wray said he thought that label is a “disservice to the men and women who work at the FBI.” Trump has referred to the FBI as part of the deep state which he believes is out to remove him from office.

Wray also said he did not feel the Trump campaign was unfairly targeted by the FBI investigation into ties with Russia. And he denied the debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential elections, as Trump still maintains.

On top of all that, Trump also has fired a bunch of Inspectors General who exist to protect the public against waste, fraud and abuse by government agencies. A few had criticized Trump actions. They are gone. Trump is within his rights to fire those people but no President has gone unscathed by an Inspector General at one time or another. Firing them would have been considered retribution and I don’t recall any similar situations in the past. In Trump’s case, it clearly is retribution and continues his efforts to put loyalists into positions so he is not challenged, questioned nor is the public need served well.

Most of the above all happened in one week. It’s hard to keep track. It can be understood and forgiven if most citizens can’t keep it all straight, especially in the middle of a pandemic where everyone worries about their loved ones and themselves, and where unemployment stands at nearly 15 percent and will rise and men and women who a few weeks ago shopped in grocery stores are now waiting in long lines to obtain donated foods.

You may loathe or love Donald Trump. But you have to pay attention to what he’s doing that will cause nearly unrepairable harm to this country and all it has stood for.

Thanks to many of Trump’s policies and behavior, we have given up our status as The Leader of the world and other countries are moving in to try to provide that leadership. Also, many enemies are taking advantage of our backpedaling and positioning themselves favorably with countries that had been our allies.

And, Trump – intentionally or simply for self-preservation reasons – is ripping apart institutions that have held our republic together for centuries and which other were trying countries try to replicate.
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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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