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The Screaming Moderate

New York vs. Washington isn't going so well

7/28/2017

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Yesterday was a day unlike any other maybe in the history of our country. Among the developments:
  • Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham warned the Republican President Donald J. Trump that “holy hell” would break lose if he tried to fire the attorney general and the special counsel looking into Russia meddling with our election
  • The military nicely sidestepped for the moment an "order" from the President to keep transgender men and woman out of the military (and maybe kick out those already serving), something President Obama approved. The military didn’t outright refuse to follow an order (which would be unheard of) but did say nothing changes until they get a direct order, not a Tweet, from the President on the issue.
  • The Boy Scouts basically apologized for the President’s campaign rally speech that wasn’t G-rated for a group that included mostly children.
  • The chairman of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee said that if Trump fires the attorney general, the Senate will not hold hearings on a replacement this year.
  • The White House Communications director, less than a week on the job (and I’m not really sure he’s officially on board yet), went on an expletive-filled rampage with a reporter in which he called the chief of staff “a fucking paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac,” and said the President’s top strategist can do a physical maneuver on himself that even the best Olympic gymnast couldn’t do.
That was yesterday and I’m leaving out a few.

By the way, the Senate did not pass a Republican health care plan which should have been the news of the day/overnight cycle and would have been a big step toward achieving Trump’s agenda, of which he has achieved little so far.

And if you’re a reader of the Washington Post, that newspaper today carried a lead story on the communications director’s tirade that included, spelled out, the expletives he used against the chief of staff! I can’t remember that happening before, and without an explanation. For the record, I agree with them being so specific in this case.

And, Anthony Scaramucci, Trump's new communications director, then Tweeted that he’ll never trust a reporter again – implying that his conversation with  Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker magazine was off the record. It was not according to Lizza and Scaramucci came up with that one a bit after the story broke – meaning, I’m guessing, that someone else suggested he spin his bad behavior by saying it was the fake news’ fault. I have a guess who. Trump, with Scaramucci's appointment is filling out his staff with his buddy New Yorkers as he tries to force out the "establishment" types. By the way, the President can fire any of these people, including the FBI director. He doesn't need an underling to do it for him.

This is the West Wing of the White House, where the President’s top staffers have their offices. I didn’t assume that these staffers spoke in G-rated language all the time. But past West Wingers and others controlled their impulses in certain situations – like on-the-record discussions with reporters or and even, ahem, in speeches to children.

If you followed all this on the news, you also will note that the targets of these attacks from the West Wing, including the President’s passive-aggressive approach to his own Attorney General,  have been met with diplomatic responses from those targeted – AG Jeff Sessions, Sen. Murkowski and Sen. John McCain who was a target again of the President’s when he joined two other Republicans and all the Democrats in the Senate to defeat the “skinny” health care bill voted on overnight.

And for good measure Trump's Secretary of the Interior threatened Alaska federal treats when he spoke with Alaska's Senator Murkowski who happens to be chairman of his primary committee in the Senate. Payback indeed will be a bitch, Mr. Secretary. So far, Murkowski is only holding up a few of his appointees.

The President is succeeding in turning key players in his party maybe not formally against him (yet) but putting them on that road. My guess is many of them for months have been as worried about this President as many of us. But they had to bide their time. Biding time is about over. These folks knew it was only a matter of time that a straw would break the camel's back.

All this when he needs senators and congressmen to pass his badly wounded agenda. His promise to “repeal and replace” Obamacare left in tatters. His effort to “build a wall and have Mexico pay for it” is, at best, on crutches and his claim that he “knows more than the generals” is debunked.

In a normal White House, Scaramucci would be history. He even may yet be in this White House.

New York meets Washington is not going so well.


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'The Mooch' goes to Washington

7/24/2017

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Many White House administrations, when they hit the inevitable road block in getting things done, blame it on the lack of a strong communications strategy. This White House is no exception.

Friday’s shakeup of the communications department, spurred by Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s unexpected (at that moment anyway) resignation, is aimed at getting better spokesmen on TV for President Trump. He hit the jackpot in Anthony “The Mooch” Scaramucci. He’s perfect for Trump. Personally,  I think he’s a putz.

Scaramucci’s debut at the Brady Briefing Room’s podium was classic Scaramucci and Trump. The new communications director declared his “love” for Trump multiple times, said Trump had “great karma” and he blew a kiss to the press on his way off the podium, call that the Mooch Smooch.

Scaramucci took the podium with an audience of one in mind -- Donald Trump.

He only cared what Trump heard, not what the citizenry heard.  Something the Trump folks can’t seem grasp is that while of course their job is to try to make Trump look good their responsibility also is to tell the American people the truth.

The newest White House staff member in his first 72 hours on the job:
  • Told CNN”s Jake Tapper that he received a call from someone he wouldn’t name who was making the case that it might have been Russia who meddled with our election last year or it might have been others. Tapper “pressed” – he asked once who it was for it for the statement to have credibility – and Scaramucci quickly caved under that pressure admitting it was Trump himself. Another Trump spokesman who likes to make it sound like the world agrees with Trump.
  • Said he will fire any leakers he finds in the Communications Department. Fabulous. But as most former White House staffers – from both parties – will tell you, those people seldom leak. The leaks typically come from national security or foreign policy staffers (not always in the White House), career employees and others. Scaramucci can talk tough but likely he won’t fire anybody who’s a leaker. And if he does fire someone, that someone will be merely a scapegoat for proof that he's one tough New Yawker.
  • Told anyone who’d listen that in a full act of transparency, he was deleting all his old Tweets. Uh, those tweets primarily were Tweets attacking Trump (because Scarmuicci opposed him before he supported him, going through at least two other presidential primary contenders before landing on Trump when no one else was left).
  • Called Trump a “political hack” on Fox TV. Of course he said he and Trump joke about that now.
  • Said he was deleting the Tweets because he’s “evolved” in his thinking. It reminded me of a street bum who approached friends and me 40 years ago in New York City and said, “I’m a walking talking lunatic.”

My view: Scaramucci is what, in political terminology,  I’d call a putz: A phony, slick-talking, fancy pants who is the stereotype of a used car salesman. He’s that guy you went to school with who sucked up to the teachers only to make fun of them when they were out of ear shot. He succeeded in many areas, but we hated him for it because we knew he was, well, a putz.

My guess is he will be successful with Mr. Trump…until he isn’t. When the President sees that Scaramucci is not solving the President’s problems – and he won’t because his problems aren’t communications -- he will fall out of favor just as has Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Trump threw Sessions – his very first Senate supporter and the one who took a big risk endorsing Trump so early – under the bus, and then had a few pickups run over him for good measure last week in an inane interview Trump gave to the New York Times.

Sessions’ mistake? He was faithful to the Constitution first rather than Trump first. Bad boy!

Trump will take Scaramucci over Sessions any day because The Mooch will say whatever makes Trump smile. He is mini-me in younger packaging.

And we get a new, improved putz in the Administration.

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So, Mr. President, how are you enjoying the play so far?

7/19/2017

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With this President, Harry Truman’s desk sign stating “The Buck Stops Here” is has been replaced with “Every man and woman for him/herself!”.

President Trump’s first reaction to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell raising the white flag on “repeal and replace” was not just to point a finger but to imply he won’t lift a finger to make Obamacare work for the millions who depend on it for their health care. After all, his appointees are in charge of the executive branch. Does that mean they will begin ignoring their responsibilities and obligations to oversee administration of the law so they can ensure it fails? Or is it simply to send messages to the insurance industry that “we expect failure, so go ahead and do what you will – raise premiums, abandon markets. Let's see what harm a sixth of our economy can do to our overall economy."

Ironic that that the medical profession's oath of "first, do no harm" Trump has morphed into "first, point a finger of blame."

It is jaw-dropping to hear a President say: “Let Obamacare fail. It will be a lot easier.” One thing to say that when you are a candidate, another to say it while you are responsible for administering the laws of the country and protecting the  health and welfare of out citizens.

I assume the people it will be “a lot easier” for is you, Mr. President, because it isn’t easier for those folks – men, women and children – who depend on Obamacare to deal with their maladies from broken bones to potentially life-saving cancer treatments.

Everyone but Trump owns this failure, according to Trump.  

Tell me again, why was he elected President? He not only displays no leadership ability or desire but his self-proclaimed skills as a master deal-maker have been nowhere to be seen. In fact, the Republicans in the Senate all but said, “go, Mr. President, enjoy your golf resorts but don’t mess with our dealings on the Hill.” And when he did engage, like Monday night at a dinner in the White House for himself and about a dozen senators, he didn’t roll out a strategy for success, but talked about his travels, leaving senators wondering where his head is.

Six months in, and this is a presidency that has done nothing visible, except get a Supreme Court nominee approved. And that only when the Senate changed its rules to accommodate the votes the GOP already had.
  
One thing he is doing, but most of us don’t really know what is going on, is pulling back executive orders by his predecessor and overseeing regulations being changed in the various Cabinet departments, but most of these don’t make the news so we don’t know what harm (or maybe good?) he may be doing there. Besides, the news briefings his underlings hold have become all but worthless as they hide from the cameras and answer to question directly.

In his mind, though, he has accomplished more in his first six months on the job than anyone in our history! Oh to live to Trump's mind. It is indeed a glorious place.

Clearly, the Republicans failed on health care. They have sufficient votes in the Senate to pass it … but they couldn't even get 50 votes from their own caucus.

Seven years of chanting and promising “repeal and replace” … maybe now they’ve learned that a political slogan does not a government policy make. Heck, Trump thought Obamacare could be repealed and replaced on his first day in office!  We're halfway through his first year and it is defeated.

We should begin to see more peeling away of his support, such as that support is (36 to 40 percent of the voting public thinks he’s doing a good job).

The people who voted for him wanted him to change Washington and do things FOR them, not take things AWAY from them.

Personally, if it were me, I likely would have put infrastructure reform up on the Hill first. That would create lots jobs and improve our failing highways, railways and more. Hard to be against that, especially with a new President wanting it. Could have been a nice first success for Trump.

He had to do health care before tax reform because health care reform is where he was saving the money to pay for his tax breaks for the wealthy. With health care dead, hard to see how tax reform gets done.

So, Mr. Trump, so far how are you liking this job you figured was “so easy?”


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Trump family tradition: Lies

7/12/2017

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It will take months, probably years, for the Russia-meddling-in-our elections’ investigations by the special counsel, the House and the Senate to finish their work. Once the special counsel is done, there will be a legal finding of whether laws were broken.

Any one of us mere mortals (non-lawyers) can say what we will about laws being broken but we do not speak with any formal authority. That is primarily up to Robert Mueller, the special counsel.

What we can say, without hesitation, is that President Trump and his administration, including at least one son, lie. They lie and then they lie to cover up their lies. They may tell the truth if the New York Times is about to print evidence, as evidenced by Donald Trump Jr. yesterday.

For months they denied any ties or meetings with Russians regarding the campaign and now we know the president’s namesake son “loved” the idea of meeting with a purported Russian government attorney to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. This is not normal behavior by a campaign. You do not meet with foreign actors, especially those considered an adversary, to help them influence our elections. Now the spout has opened and the question is what else might there be?

Don Jr’s approach in the last week when confronted by the New York Times with questions was to lie, lie some more and then disclose some of the truth. That only came, though, when the Times asked him for comment because they were about to print his emails on the topic.  That’s his father’s approach, too, as he continues to point fingers at the “fake news” people who drudge up the danged truth all the time.

Trump, the president, is more worried about his coverage than he demonstrates he is about the country’s reputation, security and well-being. We’ve seen that in his behavior at the G-20. In his spilling classified information in the Oval Office to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador. And other numerous examples.

Yes, we can disagree over policy -- be that supply side economics or taking a step away from NATO or ending U.S. participation in a global climate change agreement -- but this President is showing little natural talent for making policy decisions and more likely he is taking a position to keep his base happy.  Trump’s brand is more important to him than the country’s well-being, and his brand is to be a marketer par excellence when it comes to himself. In his private sector life that included exaggerating, calling reporters disguising himself as his own publicist, branding every deal he ever was involved with “fantastic” and more.

Were there more meetings of Trump family or campaign types with Russians offering to help his campaign? That’s what the special counsel, congressional committees and the top newspapers in the country will ferret out. Was the President aware of those contacts, if they happened? Again, special counsel and committees and the media will get to the bottom of it. What did the President know and when did he know it? We may never really know.

My experience dealing with the media of this country is that if the New York Times or Washington Post publish a story, it typically is far more often true than false. This is another example.

We all can vent our frustrations about President Trump and talk about “locking him up” but this likely will not end that way though it likely will end in a major, official tarnishing of his presidency at least and, at most, prison time for folks who perjured themselves which is what federal prosecutors in DC cases typically find.

But we know this President is a natural liar. It comes instinctively and it comes easily. He has, in six months in office, used up whatever credibility pool he had left after the campaign. We now are as likely to believe the Russians as we are to believe our president. Read that again. I’ll wait. Got it? Good.

Trump’s credibility in office has been destroyed and we haven’t had a natural disaster or security crisis yet. What are we to believe then from this White House?

And now, his son’s credibility is gone. Kellyanne Conway’s disappeared a long time ago.  And the White House’s official spokesmen – the press secretary and his primary deputy – have become a laughing stock with their “I haven’t asked the President but I’ll get back to you” which is akin to hearing from your prom date that she’ll call you, and while you’re waiting you read about her pending marriage in the paper.

We are clearly in uncharted territory. And we all want the chart.
 
(By the way, let’s get “treason” out of the way. Here’s the Constitution’s definition of treason: “Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.”    “Treason” is a wartime crime.)


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The ugly American goes to the G-20

7/10/2017

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President Trump’s first foray into the G-20 confirmed many of the things we all have thought about him:

  • He’s a loner not really good – or not having a desire to – at making friends with others who don’t constantly praise him
  • His is a presidency that has a very family-dependent aspect to it
  • He is not well liked among our allies
  • In six months, he has given up the United States’ position as the world leader who is respected by our peers
And who says he hasn’t had any major accomplishments during his first six months?

It’s hard to base judgements solely on the photos published from the G-20 meeting. Many of them show Trump sitting alone as the other world leaders gab behind him. Of course we don’t see other pictures which may show him engaged.

I draw my conclusions from reading comments in the papers, including news and opinion pieces, about the meeting and voiced on the record by those participating. For example, French President Emmanuel Macron said: “Our world has never been so divided. Centrifugal forces have never been so powerful. Our common goods never so threatened.”

When votes among the G-20 are 19-1, with Trump being the one, it’s not hard to decipher who he was talking about.

There was an anonymous quote that also told the story: “It seems clear that President Trump is committed to being less predictable and not necessarily seeing predictability as positive in foreign policy.” This by a European official.

Trump is taking his private sector reputation as Mr. Unpredictable and is applying it to U.S. policy, where unpredictability is not a virtue among other world leaders nor among those who keep our economy plugging away. They all want to know the U.S. government is a predictable ally when it comes to the economy and world peace.
Trump though seems to bathe in his reputation as unpredictable.

Amid all this focus on what kind of leader Trump is – with the exception of Vladimir Putin who tripped over himself to say nice things about the American President – one would think Trump would put his best foot forward. I think he did. I think this is the foot that he wants to kick the free world with for whatever his motivations.

When it came to the Putin-Trump meeting, the anticipated potential showdown over Russia meddling with our election, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the only Administration member allowed in the room for that meeting, told an associate later that he was stunned when Trump began the meeting by telling Putin: “I’m going to get this out of the way. Did you do this?”

Strong way to start a discussion when sitting across from the man who led the attack on our elections and who our intelligence community unanimously agrees was responsible for it. That sent a message to Putin, I’m sure, which is “do what you want as long as it helps me.”

As for Trump’s daughter taking the President’s seat while he was out of the room, this may seem a small point but it is not a small point. She is a White House staffer, not an elected official or a Cabinet member with relevant responsibilities delegated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. This sent a clear message to the world about who is in charge of our government and it isn’t “we the people,” it’s “we the Trumps.”

I’ve seen friends defend this move by Ivanka Trump but there is no defense. It did not send a message that women are important in our society, which some have weakly attempted. It does not send a message that, say, Tillerson may have been a more appropriate person to fill the chair because he is our lead diplomat. It sends a message that Trump is running this government like a two-bit dictator who only trusts a family member to act appropriately or who deserves the limelight.

This was a meeting of the G-20 for which sending messages is nearly as important as stating policy. This isn't the PTA.

Putin won this summit when it comes to a U.S. vs. Russia game call. And when you top that with the New York Times story that Trump’s son, Donald Jr., met with a Russian lawyer during the campaign to get “dirt” on Hillary Clinton – a story initially Trump Jr. said was false but 24 hours later confirmed – it was not a strong performance, whatever Trump’s folks try to spin. By the way, as the investigations continue into potential collusion by the Trump campaign with the Russians, this meeting will stand out to the investigators.

There are Trump staffers who of course claimed the meeting as a huge success for Trump. This despite the fact that the final communique, while diplomatically making some of Trump’s points, did not endorse the American views on steel tariffs or climate change but tried to toss Trump a bone by not drawing stark differences in the communique.

Plus, by the way, Trump skipped town without holding a press conference to review his views about the meeting despite the fact that even Putin did do a news conference. That left Trump’s surrogates to “spin” the meeting and they made a valiant effort until Trump contradicted them in tweets just hours later.

All further confusing “we the people” as to what happened over there on our behalf.
We are being led by a President who has no respect for the truth, no respect for international norms, no desire to lead the world – in fact has voluntarily given up that role – and whose motives are, well, I truly don’t know his motives. The options range from the Pollyanna view that he is trying to lead the country in a new and different and better way, to being the naïve inexperienced leader we know him to be, to treason.

I don’t say that lightly and I don’t know the truth. But we will eventually know what the truth is.


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This would be a good week for Trump to surprise us

7/6/2017

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The next couple of days are among the most important President Trump has faced as President. He will meet with the G-20, which includes our closest allies, and he will have his first meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

From the public reports of his meetings with foreign leaders thus far, Trump has not made a good first impression, especially with our allies. He has been overly “nice” to Putin, constantly saying that if Putin “likes” him, what’s so bad with that?

This from a President who, if you don’t like him, you are an enemy. Putin, though, is truly a master manipulator and I’m guessing has rubbing his hands in joy at the prospect of this meeting.

Trump’s team has said that, in effect, the President has no agenda for his meeting with Putin. The meeting was moved from being a “side meeting,” which typically means it’s just the two principals, to a meeting where aides will attend. That clearly changes the dynamic and offers Trump’s staff what they see as more of a control on the President.
As we’ve learned, though, there is no control on this President. You never know what will come out of his mouth and he probably doesn’t either.

At a press conference today when asked about Russia’s interference in our election last year Trump agreed it was the Russians and then said of course it could be others too, but he can’t say who.  Which is it? I go with the 17 intelligence agencies on this one, as does most everyone else.

Does anyone think Trump will all of a sudden become a master diplomat, berate Putin for messing with our election, and make nice-nice to our allies? I’m not looking for any surprises in that vein.

A key point here is Trump’s credibility, or lack thereof.

In a crisis many of us always wondered if we can believe what he says. We are nearing diplomatic crisis with North Korea, and I truly don’t know what to believe from the White House. Trump is antagonizing North Korea, implying we very well could take military action. Decades of experience teaches the rest of us that a fighting war with North Korea puts people in South Korea, Japan and, possibly, the United States in grave danger by a dictator such as leads North Korea today and whose primary goal isn't the safety of his people but the protection of his reign.

Trump, even among his supporters, has low credibility.  From his continuous bogus charges of “fake news.” to his and his staffs lies in briefings, to Trump’s own brand of being able to position himself for what he thinks is “plausible deniability” on most anything – you know, that way the Eddie Haskells of the world can say one thing that could mean another to cover their backsides later.

And that’s why the next couple of days are important. How will Trump come out of these two days focused on diplomacy, something he has shown no skill at? How will he handle Putin, known as a master manipulator, who is going against Trump, someone who can be manipulated as we’ve seen?

Will Trump raise Russia’s meddling in our election, which is something all 17 of our intelligence agencies agree they did? Or will Trump let it slide to match his true view that “it could have been anyone” and, anyway, any meddling takes away from his 2016 win so he can’t accept such a fact. Kind of like his waste-of-time-and-money commission to investigate domestic fraud in our elections because that’s the only way he can accept that Hillary Clinton beat him in the popular vote. And the reality is, it doesn’t matter anyway. As he likes to say, he won and he is the President. Will he reestablish the United States as the leader of the free world?

I don’t have high hopes for the next two days. I don’t see Trump all of a sudden becoming a master diplomat or someone who stands up for the country’s needs rather than his own. 

This would be a nice time for Trump to surprise us all.


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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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