• Home
  • Blog
  • Contact
The Screaming Moderate

We should believe his lying eyes?

7/25/2018

1 Comment

 

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.
1 Comment

With 24 hours to simmer down...

7/17/2018

0 Comments

 
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."

0 Comments

That was the President of the United States?

7/16/2018

1 Comment

 
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.

1 Comment

Trump violating his oath of office?

7/14/2018

0 Comments

 
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.

0 Comments

    RSS Feed

     
    Follow @bjaycooper

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

    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.

powered by bjaycooper.com