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The Screaming Moderate

Miles to go before he keeps promises...

8/25/2017

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President Trump is really really good at one thing: positioning himself to not be blamed for things, at least with his supporters.

In his private sector days, he went bankrupt several times but told supporters on the campaign he never went bankrupt. Parsing it because he, of course, didn’t file bankruptcy for himself, but for the companies he filtered his money through. He said he never settled court cases preferring to go to court. But he settled so many, it’s hard to count.

He said he never grabbed women inappropriately, but a dozen or more say otherwise. But he figures that’s all in his past. He now protects himself from blame for other things.

The biggest “positioning” is saying he will close the government if he doesn’t get the initial – just the initial -- $1.6 billion for his cockamamie border wall. The one he said Mexico would pay for. He apparently has even his truest supporters believing the wall is a “red line” for him even though his promise, again, was a wall Mexico would pay for. He even told the Mexican president to go along with the rhetoric because that’s all it was. And now he wants to shut down the government if he doesn’t get his wall.

Either he’s nuts or the rest of us are.

As The Washington Post reports this morning he is playing me against them with the Republican-controlled Congress for being too incompetent to pass his legislative agenda. Let’s remember, while he does have priorities I’ve yet to see his White House submit any specifics of any of his priorities. He says let’s do x and Congress will write the bill.

He never submitted a health plan and now blames basically Sen. John McCain, who is battling brain cancer, for being the one responsible for health reform failing to pass (with blame left over of course for the majority leader). He also left it up to the Congress to fill in the details on “his” plan. But not that plan he called “mean” after having a Rose Garden ceremony celebrating the House Republicans for passing it.

He now wants tax reform done, before the year is up, according to his economic advisor Gary Cohn. But they have yet to submit a specific plan, saying the Congress can fill in the details.

If the Congress doesn’t pass tax reform, he’ll blame them for not getting HIS agenda done.

And if it does get done, when the reality hits that’s his country club buddies got a tax cut while the rest of the country didn’t even get to eat cake, he’ll blame the Congress again. No fingerprints.

The President also seems to think he can win re-election with 35 percent, or less, of the vote since he does nothing but play to his base. Mr. President, the stars aligned when you were elected. They ain’t aligning a second time.

I promise.


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After a brief interlude, Trump remains Trump

8/23/2017

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Dear Trump supporters,

Are you beginning to feel that looking at the eclipse without appropriate eye wear would do less damage than President Trump is doing?

Just when you think he’s being thoughtful – his Afghanistan speech actually was thoughtful as was his decision-making process – even though he kind of had it both ways when he said he prefers going with his gut, which was to pull out of Afghanistan.
But wait, that’s not all!

He tweeted in the last couple of days that it didn’t look like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could be renegotiated so he’d probably terminate it. This after telling us during the campaign that “only he” could re-negotiate better trade agreements because he was such a successful businessman.   

Although, he may be exactly the "successful" businessman he was while in the private sector because many of his “deals” there wound up bankrupt, leaving small vendors holding the bag for his millions in debt. Just as it looks like he’s doing with NAFTA and other things.

For example, he also got his crowd going in Phoenix last night by saying he’d close the government (our government) if the Congress didn’t include funding for his “great wall” to keep out illegal Mexican immigrants. Remember when he said Mexico “will pay” for the wall? He said that all through his campaign, during his transition to power and even for a bit while he's been in office. Now apparently if he doesn’t get the funding from our pockets he won’t penalize Mexico but penalize us by shutting the government.

Wait till he hears the complaints when Social Security checks and support from Medicare and Medicaid can’t happen because there are no “bureaucrats” to deal with them. Seems he wasn’t paying attention during the last government shutdown. People can die if he lets the government close down.

Or did you hear last night when he didn’t pardon racist Sheriff Arpaio in Arizona but that the criminally guilty sheriff would be “very happy” someday, hinting he will pardon him? So much for bringing the country together by keeping out of jail a bigoted sheriff sworn to uphold the laws, who didn’t.

Oh, and did you watch him rewrite history last night when he pulled from his pocket his statements from after the Charlottesville protests? Here what his immediate statement was Saturday:

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides.”

But last night he quoted himself this way:

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence. That’s me speaking on Saturday,” he said last night.

The two words I underlined in the first quote was the way he gave it, not the way he quoted himself last night. Those last two words are what created his controversy the last week or two, not the media coverage, as he claims.

And, one last example from recent days, were you watching cable news when Trump proclaimed last night that the TV stations had cut off his live feed? Did you watch that? Live? Get it?

He pulled the same stunt during his campaign…and got away with it.

So, Trump voters, I really do get why most of you voted for him. Among those reasons: he wasn’t Hillary, he was a change from business as usual in Washington, he spoke like you do, you wanted to shake up D.C., which needs shaking up.

But the man continues to lie. Last night he blamed the media for the recent racial troubles the country is experiencing.

If you think that’s true after reading those quotes above…I have a wall to sell you.

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The alt-president unhinged

8/16/2017

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Yesterday we witnessed President Trump not just unplugged but unhinged.

He fully demonstrated that he is the alt-President.

I have seen, covered as a reporter or helped plan as a political media advisor and public affairs consultant hundreds of press conferences in my life, but as I watched Trump’s performance yesterday my jaw just kept dropping. This was the real Trump and there is no unseeing it.

A return to the TelePrompTer for his next performance doesn’t change what we all saw yesterday as he was flanked not just by a few Cabinet members but by his golden elevators in the lobby of Trump Tower.

Anchors on news networks from MSNBC to Fox were dumb-founded. Trump’s new chief-of-staff watched the news conference from the sidelines by looking mostly at the floor, his arms crossed, his body language clear. Senators, congressman, corporate leaders and others, Republicans and Democrats, put out statements distancing themselves from him.

The only support I saw in the media came from David Duke, the one-time grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and attendee of Saturday’s protest in Charlottesville, who thanked the President for his comments. Repeat, a lifetime self-proclaimed bigot supported the President of the United States' comments.

I was head of communications at the Republican National Committee 30 years ago when the decision was made by then-Chairman the late Lee Atwater and President Bush 41 to ostracize Duke who was in his prime then and talking as if he were a Republican. That did not stand with President Bush or Atwater.

Trump yesterday gave Duke a chance at a second prime.

 I don’t want to overstate this, and I don’t think I am, but as a Jew, for the first time in my life, I felt threatened in my own country. I communicated with a friend who is not white yesterday and said both our peoples should be very scared. I live in a pristine little town and the alt-right protests aren’t likely to reach me but we also live about an hour from Boston where similar protests are being rumored this weekend.

 These Sieg Heil-saluting racists don't even wear their hoods anymore, proud to be seen and identified as bigots.

And, I realized that also for the first time in my life, the President of the United States does not have my back.

Some say Cabinet members and Trump staff should resign after witnessing his rant yesterday. Maybe. But I worry about who he would choose to replace those people. While David Duke has no chance of being confirmed by the Senate, there is no confirmation necessary for the White House staff.

As Trump settles further into the comfort of his base’s arms, and he is attacked by nearly everyone else in public life, his base instincts tell me he’d think, “What the hell” and appoint the David Dukes of the world to key positions.

An overreach? After yesterday’s press conference, I don’t think so.

 

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The master media manipulator isn't

8/15/2017

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For a guy people credit with being a master manipulator of the media, President Trump doesn’t get it.

Making close to the correct statement on the violence in Virginia 48 hours after will not make up for your failure to do that in the first 48 hours. It’s not because the media are “fake news,” it’s because the people expect the President of the United States to be their moral leader. The media in this case are simply reflecting the values of the country.

When you hesitate on a moral issue, it says a lot about your own morals.  Morals are not something you hesitate on. You instinctively react with them. And the country thinks your Saturday statement reflected your instincts -- to not condemn the worst among us.

Your self-praised “great instincts” aren’t as great as you think. Sure, with your base they may be – but as we see in the polls your base, or most of it at the moment, is all you have with you. You are far under 40 percent approval rating and the base can’t save you electorally or popularity-wise at that number.

Your bad instincts are telling.

A guy who understands the media would see that the “narrative” for him is someone who is seen as an intolerant bigot. Someone who plays to the further right fringe to keep them under your tent.

This is a strategy credited to your “chief strategist” Steve Bannon, who likely is the walking dead in the White House. My guess is you will think at some near point that throwing Bannon overboard will be seen by the great populace as you jettisoning a guy who was a lead propagandist of the alt-right. That by eliminating him from your circle shows you are not a bigot. But there are more like him in your White House, and the sense is that you are the key alt-righter there, whether you accept that or not. I know, I know, you have Jewish grandchildren. But it’s not like you had a say in that, is there?

When you do toss Bannon to the wolves, you will lose support among the white supremacist, racist portion of your base. Trust me. They are not that loyal either.

Your delayed reaction over Charlottesville is read as a dog whistle to the worst among us that you are their guy. Mr. Trump, if being the guy of white supremacists, Nazi sympathizers is your goal in life, you achieved it. If being a positively remembered President is your goal, you aren't going to reach it at this pace.

If going up on Mount Rushmore truly is your symbolic goal, you are not on that path.

You won a lot by making the media your enemy. Without your beating up on them, the media do not enjoy great popularity in this country. They weren't exactly the most popular before you pummeled them when they are down. And, yes, Kellyanne, I see that the media often are lower in the approval ratings than the President. But if arguing that your guy isn't the worst is the best you can do, your political prowess is as strong as I thought it was.

Moral high ground, though,  is the turf Americans expect from their President.

If not him, who?

By protecting your base, you are not, thankfully, positioning yourself for a second term. You are guaranteeing you won’t get one. I know that in your eyes you can do no wrong, but your vote isn’t the one that will make the difference if you get the chance to run again.

That’s among the things your great instincts don’t get.

Coming across angry as you do the right thing subtracts from your actions. You seemed to begrudgingly admitting that you were slow on the empathy trigger, and you were.

Taking two days to choose sides between classic American values and racism and bigotry does not add to your appeal, it reinforces what the majority of Americans think about you.

It isn’t them, Mr. Trump, it’s you.


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Nuclear rhetoric

8/10/2017

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Without knowing what our intelligence and defense experts know, it’s hard to assess President Trump’s judgement regarding his recent “fire and fury” comments about North Korea.

It is easy, based on the “narrative” about Trump – that he doesn’t read much and speaks off the top of his head – to decide that he went too far in his comments. And I would agree with that analysis at this stage.

And, there is a but.

But I was watching CNN yesterday analyzing his statement and listening to Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) being interviewed. Both Markey and Wolf Blitzer went too far in how they talked about the situation. Markey was criticizing Trump and saying he should be focused on going to the negotiating table (something he said repeatedly) and Blitzer, within just minutes of North Korea’s tension-increasing response to Trump late in the day, was putting us on the edge of nuclear war with his harried voice and leading questions.

In this case, I would agree with Trump’s criticism of the media because Blitzer was hiking the fear based on the two most recent statements by the U.S. and North Korean governments…a step way too far especially since the citizenry is scared enough. Blitzer needs to understand, and I assumed he does, the role he (and TV news) plays in getting the citizenry hopped up.

Trump, my guess is, would go to the negotiating table if North Korea would so thank you, Sen. Markey, but that isn’t the option at the moment. Kim Jong Un says he won’t negotiate if his nuclear weapons are on the table. Maybe a negotiating ploy, but still it’s what he’s saying and his behavior in recent months backs that up.

My point is, as difficult as it is to determine what the President really means when he says something, the excited reactions to what he says can be equally confounding, and wrong and add to the public’s understandable concern.

Blitzer was a terrific print reporter, focused primarily on the Middle East way back when. As a TV reporter, while still quite smart, he tends to hype a story not only in word but in his harried approach to interviewees. Markey, for his part, was as much playing politics with a dangerous situation as he says Trump is.

There need to be adults in the room, including in the newsroom.

We all hope that Chief of Staff John Kelly, Pentagon Secretary James Mattis and National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster, generals all, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are the adults in the Oval Office --- still, Donald J. Trump is the President.

But the hype of cable news added to two testosterone (faux or not) leaders – Kim and Trump – can scare the hell out of anyone.

We must remember that North Korea wants war as little as the USA does – they have more to lose than we do, but we both would lose a lot as would the world.

Kim’s statement, alluding to the craziness of Trump’s words, is trying to get under the President’s skin. That’s a tactic that we’ve seen work with Trump who is for the moment is turning his Twitter account on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell  -- why I don’t really understand –over the Senate’s failure to pass  health care legislation.

But at least McConnell doesn’t have his finger on a nuclear button.

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Since polls are guiding Trump's policy...

8/3/2017

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President Trump’s brain – policy advisor Stephen Miller – briefed White House reporters yesterday on Trump’s plan to cut legal immigration into the United States by half, making the argument that this will spur economic growth and free up more jobs for American workers and legal immigrants already here.

He had a rather contentious session with the White House reporters led by this generation’s Sam Donaldson, CNN’s Jim Acosta, who argued the proposed law was in direct conflict to the Statue of Liberty’s well-known message that we welcome all immigrants to this country – as we have, well, forever.

The proposed legislation also would require legal immigrants to speak English to get their green card – it’s hard not to joke that that requirement should apply also to the President, but I’ll resist the urge.

To support his argument for the various aspects of the proposed law, Miller cited various polls that he said show Americans support basically all the ideas in the proposed law. Each time a reporter pushed back about provisions in the bill, Miller cited a poll to justify the policy.

Now, I see nothing wrong with using polling data to help inform developing policies, though I think there are many other factors that need to be considered. Polls, after all, are a snapshot in time, not as reliable the day after they are taken as the day they are taken.

But I kind of like that the Trump White House is basing its policy-making on what a majority of Americans say in a poll. Assuming they maintain that posture...


  • According to Gallup, most Americans support some form of increased gun control, which seems to fly in the face of the President’s comments that he “loves” the Second Amendment and his bragging that with him in office people can stop worrying about their guns. Except, of course, those who are seeing those guns aimed at them.
  • And a recent Pew poll shows that nearly 60 percent of Americans agree that abortions should be legal in all or most cases.
  • Another Pew poll shows a majority of Americans think that U.S. trade agreements favor the U.S. more than the other party to the agreement and 44% say free trade agreements have definitely or probably helped their financial situation, while 38% say they have definitely or probably hurt their finances.

If the White House would use polls retroactively there were those polls on the 2016  pre-Election Day....

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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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