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The Screaming Moderate

Media in the Trump Era

11/30/2016

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As we come closer to the Trump Era in the White House, media outlets are deep in discussion about how to cover a President who doesn’t hold press conferences, doesn’t announce his Cabinet choices in person, tweets news and not-news, lies and constantly insults the media who are a big reason he is president-elect.  

I’m not sure it takes a whole lot of thought.

The media need to get back to what their job really is – keeping the public informed accurately about what’s going on. Forget about currying favor for the sake of currying favor. Forget about being “liked” – being liked in DC is kind of like a Facebook “like.” Nice, but gone once you click the button. And it doesn’t last. And forget about "entertaining" us. You're there to give us the news, not to entertain us (I'm talking to you TV news).

It’s a sign to me that President-elect Trump has yet to name a White House press secretary. He has several “transition” spokepeople now. Who he eventually names will send a strong message as to what respect he has or hasn’t for reporters.

Here are a few thoughts I’d offer the media heading into this era covering Trump:
 
  1.  Reporters in the White House Press Corps must stick to their jobs – telling the American people the truth about what’s happening with the President-elect and, on Jan. 20, President Trump. Clearly, he’s not changing his stripes, evidenced by lying over the weekend about the popular vote count.  Here’s a man who called the system rigged and fixed, yet when he wins he tries to stop others from double-checking the vote. Why does he even care at this point? Nothing is going to change the outcome of the election. In fact, he could even find out he came closer in the popular vote. And, by the way Mr. Trump, you won! Why do you waste your time worrying about what the final vote count is? I know you have more important things to do.
  2. Tweets will be part of a Trump presidency. So they need to figure out how to cover them without overplaying them. One way might be to report tweets that truly are news (like a new appointment), ignore stupid tweets (like the digs at the cast of “Hamilton”), and, for newspapers, create a column that each morning lists all of his tweets so that they are on record. TV news can do the same but not every hour. You need to stop reinforcing that all tweets are equal and that a tweet will control the day’s news.
  3. I get why cable news has so many talking heads commenting on the news of the day, for hours and hours. But it’s time to stop. It adds nothing to the public’s knowledge other than harden their own political views which they are hearing reinforced on their screens. Both ways, liberals and conservatives. So what truly are we learning? If cable executives want to set aside time for such commentary, that’s fine – but not 24/7 which it is now. It only serves to blow up unimportant issues and reinforce what people already believe. Please get back to giving us lots of news. We can figure out what to think about that news on our own. And you’ll save plenty of money because you can stop paying those talking heads to be on your “expert panels.” Oh, and that will leave more time for you to report other real news.
  4. The press should not be cowed by Donald Trump. You weren't cowed by Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan.  Until he demonstrates otherwise, Trump is what many of us thought he was on the campaign – a bully who can’t take criticism. But he will be the President. Being President he will be criticized, a hundred times a day. By the media, by his political enemies and his political allies. Just look at what Kellyanne Conway is doing publicly on the possibility of a Mitt Romney cabinet nomination. Boxing in her guy by saying he shouldn’t name Romney, while saying, too, that she’ll support him if he does. Then why are you going public against Mitt now? You make your guy look bad. Or, do your guy’s dirty work. Plus, you’re one of the few who talks to him directly every day so why go on all the Sunday talk shows to deliver such a message?
  5. The press should continue to push for a protective pool with the President. For some reason news reporters are referring to it as a “tight pool” which is a reference to smaller than usual number of reporters because of the venue – be it Air Force One or a smaller event the President may attend. It is a “Protective Pool”. It is there if news breaks and the president is needed to assure the country (think 9/11) and it’s there in case an assassin makes an attempt on his life (think John Hinckley).  It is necessary to keep us informed immediately in case of crisis.
You, reporters, are us. You represent us. Tell us what the president is saying. Tell us, as some of you did this weekend, when he is stating something with no evidence to support what he’s saying, because  you are our line into what’s happening. It is your job to state when a public official, even the President, is flat-out lying. So please continue doing that.

You’ll take hits from the “always Trumpers” but you’re not in a popularity contest. You’re in the information business. While we won’t always like the information you give us…we want and need that information.


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It's time to accept the election

11/21/2016

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It’s time.

Those who voted against Donald Trump must accept that he won. Those who voted for Donald Trump must admit that he won and, now, he is no longer Candidate Trump he is President-elect Trump.

All of us need to accept this, as does Mr. Trump.

He will be the 45th President of the United States, our president. I get that he isn’t like other presidents-elect. He isn’t and likely won’t adhere to the ways it’s been done before. There is  no "other" Donald Trump. We've seen who he is.

He does need to grow and worry more about the rest of us and less about himself, though, because that's why millions of Americans elected him.

What finally led me to acceptance is that I posted on my Facebook page the other day about Vice President-elect Pence being lectured after he attended a “Hamilton” performance on Broadway the other night. My view is that the cast had every right to deliver a reminder to Mr. Trump, through his vice president, that this is a country of all colors, creeds and religions. It was established as such and has grown even more so. Maybe the cast chose the wrong time and place, but how often would they have the vice president-elect’s ear directly?

Naturally, folks who reacted to that post were either strongly in favor of the cast’s action or strongly against, calling it disrespectful.  One taking the debate a step further, said she had campaigned for Trump in middle America and folks there are frustrated and angry that they are out of work, some addicted now to Opioids, and wanted someone to hear them and fix things. And, thus, we elected Donald Trump.

She’s absolutely right, of course. That’s what attracted millions of people to Trump. Average, good Americans out of work and frustrated with a system that doesn’t work for them. Others who voted against Trump, of course, cheered the cast’s action. But it was not a polite comment/response. It was a visceral and somewhat angry and personal debate.

That, what I thought innocent, post made me...tired. I'm tried of arguing. I'm tired of arguing with good friends over stuff neither of us control anymore. We voted. He won.

Nothing wrong with a good debate over an issue or candidate. I have friends from all over the political spectrum and of varied ethnicity. But we are so angry! We need to talk WITH each other, not AT each other. But we aren't doing that, I think, because the future holds the real unexpected right now.

After thinking more about it for a couple of days I have a few things to say:


  1. The election is over. Those who voted against Mr. Trump need to give him a chance. Not hide their legitimate criticism, but give him a chance. He hasn’t even been sworn in yet. And some are trying to get around that by somehow thinking they can get Electoral College voters to change their votes. Not gonna happen, nor should it. 
  2. Those who voted for Mr. Trump need to stop campaigning for him, he won. Time to put his governing team together, get his plans and policies together, explain them to us, and begin to solve those problems he said he’d solve.
  3. Mr. Trump needs to talk to the American people – all of us. He hasn’t had a press conference since the election nor for many weeks before that. He spoke to us the night he was elected, did a “60 Minutes” interview and since he’s been interviewing candidates for his administration, naming some via statement but not in person. And, with all due respect to my younger friends, Twitter doesn't count. The American people, all of us, deserve to hear from the man we elected to protect and serve us for the next four years. And he can do that before he is sworn in and without stepping on the incumbent's toes.
 
Mr. Trump of course can appoint whoever he wants to top jobs, some subject to Senate confirmation. As of this writing, he’s appointed three men: one who’s perceived to be an anti-Semite, another as a racist and the third who is trying to sound more middle of the road.
 
Steve Bannon, the alleged anti-Semite who will have maybe the most influence in the White House, has not yet spoken to a reporter on the record so we have no sense of the man. Is he anti-Semitic? Mr. Trump has yet to appoint a press secretary, has (by error of omission or commission) slipped out without a protective press pool to follow him and the rumors out of his campaign range from him appointing anyone from a right-wing, media-hating radio host as press secretary to a more sane, press-friendly type.
 
We need a sign. We, those who didn’t vote for him and many who did, need something to hang on to. While he doesn’t officially become president until Jan. 20, the anticipation has begun and he needs to help manage our expectations.
 
Like you, I’m sure, I have friends who adopted children from other countries. Those children are now wondering if they will be deported. It is a real fear they have. Tell them they have nothing to fear, Mr. Trump.  There are illegal immigrants (yes, illegal) but real people with real families who are just trying to survive. Are they being shown to the border? That cast on Broadway, representing many cultures and sexual orientations, are scared they will be pushed back decades in their rights and freedoms to be who they are.
 
Mr. Trump should put them at ease. I have gay and lesbian friends who have married. While Mr. Trump has said that gay marriage is settled law by the Supreme Court, he needs to go further and say it should stay that way. Why? Because he apparently doesn’t believe that abortion law, settled by the Supreme Court, too, is a non-issue anymore. He said he wants to appoint justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade, sending shudders through another large segment of our population who want and deserve control over their own bodies. And justices who believe Roe should be overturned are more likely to think gay marriage should be, too.
 
So, I accept that Donald Trump will be our 45th president. He needs to recognize that this country is split right down the middle over his presidency and  and more. His job is to bring us together and help us understand what kind of president he intends to be.

So far that isn’t so clear. Ethically, there are questions about the separation of his businesses and his presidency. He has yet to release his tax returns so we can’t even really know what potential conflicts he may have. (And, for the record, I take no president at his word over matters like that. I want to see for myself.)
 
His first few appointments make many folks less comfortable, not more comfortable. So, we need to hear him explain why these people and what his expectations of them are.

He said during the campaign that he could "pivot" to being more presidential whenever he wanted. Now would be that time. Stop tweeting about Broadway casts and how you would have won a law suit you chose to settle, and start leading us.
 
We, and he,  need to accept the past and understand more about our future under a President Trump.


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'Hamilton' cast reflects America

11/19/2016

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There is a big debate going on in social media (and other places) today over the cast of “Hamilton” delivering a message at the end of last night’s performance to Vice President-elect Pence who was there to enjoy the show.

As he was exiting ahead of the audience one of the cast members, with all others behind him, stepped up, thanked Mr. Pence for attending and delivered a message of diversity to him, which he apparently stopped and listened to as he hit the lobby. (You can see the video by copying and pasting this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWlwrUFiuUw

Brandon Victor Dixon, who plays Aaron Burr in the production, read the message to Pence and here is a part of it:

“Vice President-elect Pence, we welcome you, and we truly thank you for joining us here at ‘Hamilton: An American Musical.’ We really do. We, sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir. But we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and work on behalf of all of us. All of us. Again, we truly thank you truly for (sharing) this show, this wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men and women of different colors, creeds and orientations.”

Critics online  are saying it was an insult to the vice president-elect. From what I see, it wasn’t intended as one but what it was, to me, was: A diverse cast reflecting many others in the country who are fearful of what will become of their freedoms under a Trump Administration. And they have reason to be based on the comments he made on the campaign and his early appointments to his Administration.

As the new leaders of this country, Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence have an responsibility to ease those fears.

Mr. Pence could have chosen to hear the message, stay and have a dialogue with the cast and audience about why they, and millions of others, shouldn’t be fearful. That would have been useful. Instead, Mr. Pence left and his new boss, Donald Trump, tweeted this: “Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras ablazing. This should not happen!” And he asked that the cast apologize to Mr. Pence.

Call it free speech, as some are. Call it an insult to the new VP, as some are.  What it was, was a polite call for help. They were saying “tell us we shouldn’t be frightened about a Trump presidency and what it means to our rights as American citizens.”

Online I’ve seen comments that the cast was disrespectful and inappropriate in doing what they did.

Maybe they were. But that’s just how afraid people are and rather than tweeting and retreating, Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence should assure them they having nothing to fear, if they indeed have nothing to fear.


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The return of the Oys!/Yos!

11/17/2016

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What with the upset and upsetting results of the 2016 presidential election, our awarding of Oys! and Yos! has slipped. Not that we haven’t been collecting candidates! So, here they are with apologies for the datedness of some.

A five-star Oy! to the President-elect for considering former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for appointment as his secretary of state, a job requiring skills of finesse, diplomacy, wide knowledge of complex issues and empathy. Apparently Mayor Giuliani’s primary qualification was when he was still mayor announcing to the press he was splitting from one of his wives … before he told that wife. Finesse, diplomacy, knowledge and empathy. For this, the first five-star Oy! to the president-elect! Congrats, or something. Oy!  Oy!  Oy!  Oy!  Oy!

Before the election, which seems like ancient history now, Donald Trump spilled publicly some information from what are supposed to be classified briefings of the candidates by the CIA. He didn’t give away any strategic secrets but he did claim that he learned that President Obama, he said, did not heed advice from the briefers in some foreign policy matters and foreign policy types in the government were upset about that. First, the CIA doesn’t give policy advice, only facts to presidents and, second, Trump said he gained this knowledge from paying attention to the “body language” of the briefers. Now, he gets the same even more detailed briefing as the president gets, including what secret operations may be underway.  For now a three-Oy! award. Oy! Oy!  Oy!

According to the Wall Street Journal, before Trump named this third and final team of leaders for his campaign, he said efforts by previous campaign leaders to remake him into a politician were 'dishonest.' The Journal reported that Trump said he resisted these efforts at times by going off script. Since he was more comfortable with his new team, he said, he was following their advice, which in most cases is the same as the advice he was given by his previous team(s). Result: fewer headlines over impolitic comments (and an improbable election win). So Trump, like an immature child, didn’t like his previous parents and acted out against them but he liked his new parents so followed their counsel. Needless to say, Oy!  Or, more to the point, three: Oy!  Oy!  Oy!

Trump named Steve Bannon, conspiracy theorist extraordinaire as his primary White House advisor (with all due respect to incoming Chief of Staff, typically the highest ranked White House job, Reince Priebus). Depending on who you listen to Mr. Bannon is an intelligent business genius or an anti-Semitic, anti-every-group, anti-media conspiracy theorist. Two Oys! only because we haven’t yet seen how Mr. Bannon performs in his new role, and we'll give  him a chance. But we have a few Oys! on order for him because we have our suspicions. Oy! Oy!

NFL Quarterback Colin Kapernick took a knee effectively, months ago, during the national anthem to protest racial conditions in this U.S. That’s his right. Seems to me, though, that he could have avoided a lot of debate over his behavior – instead of debate over the real issue – by standing for the anthem and taking advantage of his platform as a former star QB by doing an ESPN interview or writing an op-ed for a national publication. Focus would have stayed on the real issue. One Oy: Oy! (Hey, it’s only football).

As we speak, we (I use the royal “we” because, well, I’m the only one here) have no Yos!? Nope, we’re in the Era of Oy! as we speak. But let’s be optimistic for the next time.


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We owe a strong stand on a free press to Gwen

11/15/2016

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It’s ironic and sad that Gwen Ifill, reporter and woman extraordinaire, passed away shortly after the election of a major potential threat to press freedom.

 Gwen Ifill was a journalist in a category of her own – smart, fair, courageous, classy with a smile that filled many rooms and TV sets across our country. Her loss will be mourned for a long time by those who knew her and those who only knew her by reading or watching her reports over the many years.

We were lucky to have her as a chronicler of information. She stood tall for a free press and giving the American people the information they need to make decisions. And she did it with class and style, fairness and dignity.

But as we enter a time when the future of media openness in a new American presidential administration is unknown, Gwen’s example serves as a reminder to battle proudly and with all our strength whatever challenges are coming to the Fourth Estate and the First Amendment.

As a black woman of a certain era, Gwen certainly fought her way, without extending her elbows but pushing forward with talent, charm and a bigger than life personality, to earn a seat on that bus of presidential reporters and climb to the top of her craft. And she did it at a time when female faces were rare on the bus, particularly black female faces. To honor her memory, we must do the same when it comes to protecting the First Amendment.

The president-elect has called journalists disgusting scum. He has used media more than any politician in history to his benefit, both in terms of creating him as a political entity and as a whipping boy to animate his rallies.

He was elected seven days ago and has yet to hold a press conference in a disconcerting break with the practice of past winners. It may be that the enormity of his new job is hitting him so he’s focused on building an administration and policy agenda. Or it could reflect his disdain for the media. Perhaps he is holding his Twitter account in abeyance until he feels he needs to unleash it on the media.
 
Or maybe he will leave it to Steve Bannon, his newly appointed chief strategist and former CEO of Breitbart News (but don’t let the name “news” fool you, it is the populist organ of misogyny and racism and antisemitism) to deal with the media. And whatever flunky/sycophant he may appoint as his press secretary (he does have a fine choice though in Sean Spicer who respects the media and what they do).

Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. And that is the job of the mainstream press – to present the facts so we can develop our own opinion. They don’t always get it right but they always try.

Mainstream is different than the media we’ve seen grow over the last number of years. Online outlets such as Breitbart and others on the right and the left put out the news through their political filter, slanting it to appeal to the audience they serve, be that on the right or left. Fine, there’s a place for that – but know it for what it is, news shaped to meet or create a point of view. Not objective news.

As readers, we must separate those advocacy journalists from the mainstream press. And let me stop here for a second because I know some folks who read this blog feel the New York Times, Washington Post and others have a view too. They do, on the editorial pages, but not the news pages.

I can guarantee you editors at those outlets right now are reviewing not necessarily the slants put on their coverage of this election but on the assumptions that were made – for example that Hillary Clinton would win, and Donald Trump would lose. I think that colored the coverage not so much from a partisan point of view but from a group-think point of view. On the whole, reporters did not do, in my view, a good job of getting to the true feelings of half the voters in this country.

Those voters who supported Trump range from those who truly believe everything he said, to those who just simply wanted a change. Trump was the change especially when the alternative was a woman who had spent 30 years “in power” and ambitiously angling for the presidency. People were obviously willing to overlook the deep questions he never answered in order to avoid another four years of “the same.”

Agree or not, Mrs. Clinton became the embodiment of Washington stagnation. And half the country wanted an end to that stagnation or, better put, wanted a start to a government serving them not someone or something else.

The political cycles I’ve watched over many years show the media does veer back and forth but more on the horse race than on the ideological race. Not to say most reporters aren’t more liberal than conservative. I venture to say they are. But knowing many of those reporters over the years, and having been one at a local level, I know that it doesn’t get in the way of their telling a story. (Now, those who disagree are free to comment, but you won’t change my mind any more than I’m likely to change yours.)

What we all must agree on is this: It is essential that we have a free press in this country. Without it, we have none of the freedoms in the Constitution. And without respect for the Constitution, we have no country.

So, Gwen’s too-soon passing -- she was only 61 -- should be a reminder to us of what a good reporter is and how important that reporter is to our freedom and knowledge. She was tough on those she interviewed but everyone wanted to be her friend because, well, she just was that smart and classy and normal.

You may not like what gets reported but at least you are aware of it. Do with the information what you will but we have the right to get objective information and make up our own minds.

 That’s what the Constitution is all about: A free society that is open and equal to all.


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And the right wing scared people? How about the alt-right?

11/14/2016

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When the first word came across CNN that Reince Priebus was named chief of staff by President-Elect Trump, it was a good feeling. Well, not good but better than the alternative, which was Steve Bannon formerly of the Breitbart news service, the closest thing to a potential Pravda the U.S. has ever seen.

But quickly after, word came that Donald Trump appointed Bannon the White House’s chief strategist and that, weirdly, his name came first in the press release announcing the appointments, something only fanatics of D.C. political intrigue would pay attention to. The chief of staff is, or has been, the most important staff job in the White House – but maybe not anymore.

Later the understanding came that apparently these two are equals in the White House, something that will become clearer as time goes on – do both have to agree before things move forward? Will the President settle differences?

Trump, in his private sector days, is said to have liked pitting staffer against staffer. Quite problematic in the hustle of issues facing a White House daily – you don’t have time always for consensus because decisions must be made quickly. You can’t have co-equals managing the agenda or the staff. 

One thing I learned about managing an organization – you hire good people and give them the responsibility and accountability and they let them perform. When you send mixed messages about who’s in charge, confusion will reign. Jealousies will grow. Real power struggles happen. Stagnation occurs.

On top of that, Bannon is a racist and conspiracy theorist. That may have served Trump well on a campaign when you are trying to appeal to coalitions that will elect you – well it wouldn't serve most of us well, but maybe it served Trump – but while serving as president, it will not serve him well. More importantly, it will not serve the country well.

The USA is a country created by immigrants, inhabited by immigrants and has attracted immigrants because of our legal tradition of equality for all.

So, while “comfort” came in the Priebus announcement, it was quickly followed by fear when the Bannon announcement came. He is an unabashed anti-Semite, anti-black, anti-, well, anti-most every group that isn’t pure white, from the evidence available.

He is a conspiracy-focused troll of the “Alt-right” which may be scarier than the American Nazi Party. He seldom apparently talks to the mainstream press so we can’t even get a look or hear of him to make up our own minds. So, we must rely on what we have heard about him from the mainstream media and from the conduct of his former employer, Breitbart. And neither is good.

Now, he will work steps from the Oval Office and be in it often.

More appointments will follow, probably continuing today. Trepidation reigns.
 While Bannon has an impressive resume – other than the Breitbart years – he has a shaky background ranging from his divorce to his calling a conservative journalist, Bill Kirstol, a “renegade Jew.”  

Trump had been saying all the right things since last Tuesday. He had been softening many of his campaign stands. And now this.

Trump’s surrogates go on TV and support the Bannon appointment.  Former Cong. Jack Kingston even said, “I never heard of the Alt-right until a few weeks ago.” Uh-huh, yeah, right, Jack.

This is not starting off well, Mr. Trump. And, as he did on “60 Minutes” last night regarding the protests going on and his supporters allegedly verbally and physically assaulting those protesting his election, looking at the camera and saying “stop it” just won’t do.

This, Mr. President-elect, is where true leadership comes in. This is when you show you will be the president of all the people.

And now’s the time to show it.


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Mourn or enjoy -- but take a breath

11/11/2016

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As the first few days after the election pass, it’s become clearer to me how important going through the stages of grief is. And maybe, too, the stages of exaltation.

Many of my close friends, all smart men and women and Democrats, are in fear mode, understandably. Many of my close friends, all smart men and women and Republicans, are thrilled, understandably.

Some fear that close friends or family members will be deported. I understand the doubts that Candidate Trump has put in everyone’s minds. We face the unknown and it is scary.

Some think Trump is about to right all the wrongs committed in the last eight years and the country will be "great" again. Thinking that, though, likely will lead to disappointment.

The rumors of who President-elect Trump will name to his administration strike fear in non-Trump hearts. Gingrich, Giuliani, Bannon! And rightfully so. But I would shout: HE HASN’T NAMED ANYONE…YET.

Names get floated for various reasons, and not only from the transition office or the president-elect’s brain. Sometimes it’s to try to pressure the new president and sometimes it’s just to get some free publicity or legitimacy.

Will he name those folks? I have no idea. If he does, fear will be struck in my heart too. But I’m going to give him a few days while he makes up his mind and hope for the best.

Clearly, he gave little or no thought to these decisions before Tuesday. He was focused on not losing – and I use that phrase intentionally. He was focused on how now to lose the election but I think more importantly, on how to make it look like he didn’t lose but that outside forces intervened to rig the system against him.

I have thought all along that Donald Trump is a phony and a con man. I’m hoping now that I was right because it would probably mean much of what he said on the campaign even he didn’t believe and now he has to untangle himself from all that. Then again, for him, untangling isn’t hard – he just proclaims the opposite.

Friends, he will be our president. We need to accept that and try to figure out ways to make it work or make sure the Democrats in the Senate block his worst intentions, as they will. And likely they will be joined at some point by a few brave Republicans who still question if he can be an effective and fair president. (And in a way won't that be ironic because it was the Democrats who said Republicans blocked President Obama at every turn. But the power given the minority in our system -- intentionally -- may protect them from Trump's worst angels.)

Yes, a president has many things he or she can do on their own – much of the foreign policy, the power of executive orders (I don’t know who misused that power first, but shame on him) and some other things. But many will take legislation or budget authority and thus, the check and balance our founding fathers brilliantly constructed.

There are many checks in the system. Also, if the worst comes true and he begins to step on our rights as citizens, there are options the Congress has there, too. And, evidenced by the fact that weak Republicans sometimes endorsed him, sometimes not – there are more potential votes to protect us from the worst Trump could co.

My biggest concern was always the things he can do on his own and the foreign policy decisions a president can make that would endanger our country. My biggest concern remains there.

The protests across the country are understandable and, so far, mostly non-violent. I would hope the president-elect would speak out on those protests and not in the way he has Tweeted so far – how "not nice" the protests are. Peaceful protests are part of the American way. Emphasis on peaceful. I wish he would reach out rhetorically to those folks in a good way. I hope he does.

The partisans on both sides need to calm down. Enjoy your victory. Mourn your loss. But remember the sun will come up tomorrow and we need to be ready for that. I hope that someday we can blur these harsh partisan lines that divide us. They are ugly, on both sides.

Let’s at least give President-elect Trump a chance to catch his breath, absorb the reality of the huge responsibility he’s about to assume, and hope that his lack of core beliefs works to the country’s advantage.


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Now the Cabinet watch begins

11/10/2016

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Focus now will be on who President-elect Trump (get used to it) nominates to his cabinet. Oh, and for that open Supreme Court slot that Merrick Garland now will never fill.

These appointments will send signals as to how Trump will govern.  

Granted, some scary names and jobs have been rumored. Many of those folks – Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Chris Christie, and Steve Bannon – deserve consideration based on their loyalty and dedication to the candidate. To the victor go the spoils, as they say. A test, though, will be to see where the president-elect places his loyalists.

Let’s just say, the cable news channels – while they do in-house postmortems on their conduct in this election – will have plenty of fodder to continue to get nearly as good ratings and keep those high-paid talking heads in fancy clothes for a while.

Seriously, though, Gingrich would be a disaster at State. Why? Well, for many reasons but one is that we saw his temperament as Speaker of the House – throwing a hissy fit when President Clinton forced him to get on Air Force One from the back side, pardon the reference. You can’t get your knickers in a twist over such slights if you’re the county’s top diplomat. You will be slighted early and often.

Giuliani as attorney general, well, we’ve seen how he holds grudges and that’s not the temperament you want at Justice. He is a nasty man, to steal a phrase and change the gender.

With Christie a possibility to be indicted over Bridge-gate, well, in a normal administration let’s just say you wouldn’t want him under oath at a confirmation hearing. Nor, actually, should he want to be under oath there even with a GOP-dominated Senate because Democratic senators get to question him too.

Obviously, when it comes to the crowd that has surrounded Donald Trump in his campaign, “temperament” will be the most repeated word for a while.

We will be able to judge Mr. Trump on his choices for his Cabinet. He does have some good possibilities. Steven Hadley, who was President George W. Bush’s national security advisor, is a sane, level-headed expert and would be a good choice for State. He’s been in that world before, knows many of the world’s players and performed well. Hadley also kept his head low during the campaign and made no political waves, showing his skills as a diplomat!

Rumors abound, too, about folks being in the Cabinet such as Ben Carson or Sarah Palin. Get used to it. They likely will end up there. You may not like, I’m sure, Palin in a Cabinet post but let’s just say that in a Trump Cabinet, I doubt she’ll get away with too much since the boss will prefer to control the headlines.

For months Trump has talked about potentially naming Carl Ichan, well known corporate raider, to Treasury. Personally, I don’t think that will happen but we’ll see.

I won’t be surprised either to see wrestling mogul Linda McMahon either named to the Cabinet (my guess is Commerce) or to an ambassadorship. She and her husband are long-time friends of Trump (who appeared on their WWE shows – for a big fee I’m told, a fee that went to the Trump Foundation, in fact, and was its largest donation). Mrs. McMahon ran for the Senate in Connecticut so has had political aspirations and is very smart.

Its key to watch who he puts at Treasury, State and Defense. That will tell a lot about him as a president. And also for White House chief of staff. Rumors are focusing on Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus and he could do worse since Priebus knows Washington, has TV experience and is pals with Speaker and fellow Wisconsinite Paul Ryan, which would go a long way to helping work with the Congress.

Another rumored candidate is his first campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, a real Trump loyalist but who demonstrated little ability to manage a campaign, let alone an administration. He would be, to use an oft-used Trump adjective, a disaster.

Plus Priebus now has months of experience dealing directly with Trump on the campaign and seeing how he operates and, how he takes advice. Priebus supposedly told Trump the truth and kept his mouth shut on it during the campaign, a good trait for a chief of staff.


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A place called Hope

11/9/2016

1 Comment

 
Like half of America, I’m still stunned by last night’s election results. That feeling won’t fade quickly.

The shock has worn off. The five stages of grief have passed relatively quickly. Or I’m in denial still, not sure.

But, Donald Trump is the president-elect. The system was not rigged. He won fair and pretty square, although Hillary Clinton likely will win the popular vote.

My first thoughts? I never thought he’d do all the things he said. Some he can’t. Some a majority of his followers never even believed he’d do. Many I don’t think he even believes. He just knew that those positions were winning him blocks of votes. And, he obviously was right. Cynical as that may have been. Machiavellian as that may be.

The “political establishment” didn’t read the tea leaves. There are a lot of angry people out there. Not racist people. Not misogynists. Though there are a fair share of those, too. But the really angry people are mad about being left behind. Are looking for answers. Are fed up with government not working for them. And while Trump hasn’t really given any answers, Hillary was giving the same old answers. And they didn’t play.

Trump scares me, as anyone who’s read this blog knows. But what scares me even more are the people he likely will bring with him. Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Newt Gingrich, Omarosa whatever her name is who already is filled with a need for revenge against the never-Trumpers.

Grace goes both ways. Hillary is about to show it. Obama will show it. And Omarosa should follow their lead. More importantly, Trump should. His acceptance speech last night was a beginning.   

My guess (hope) is that when he won, or shortly thereafter, Donald Trump looked in the mirror and, after saying “holy crap,” began to fill with the fear and responsibility and challenge this job brings. It’s real. And I think he’ll get that. He sure will after he gets his first fill classified national security briefing today.

I’m not as sure about the others, or Rudy Giuliani or Chris Christie, both of whom can be filled with vengeance. Just remember the bridge shutdown.

Plus, the president-elect has some legal stuff to get through: the trial on Trump University’s fraud will be here soon and the president-elect likely will be testifying or being deposed or something. Not to mention the women who have alleged sexual violence against him. That doesn’t just disappear. And now it’s too late to say he’s sorry or admit it. So the lying will continue (I think he’s lying about that anyway). And when will we see his tax returns? He’s soon to be the president, and the people deserve to see it. Especially since he got a pass on it during the campaign.

On the positive side, I hope one of Trump’s first initiatives in office is something like an infrastructure bill. Something that will improve things and provide jobs. That would be a good first step. He won’t be banning Muslims, he won’t be immediately deporting illegals. Can’t do those things quickly and, the more time that goes by, the less he will feel the need to do that. He can start legislation to build a wall, but it won’t go anywhere and Mexico won’t pay for it. So that likely won’t happen.

He can’t eliminate same sex marriage. That genie is out of the bottle. Hell, several states legalized marijuana yesterday. And he’ll realize those things once he fully accepts his new job.

Firing people won’t get the job done. Hiring the right people will. Working with Paul Ryan will. Making sure he doesn’t appoint totally nuts-o judges and Supreme Court justices, he’ll learn, is better for the country, and thus him, in the long run. That’s not to say that liberal judges will be appointed. They won’t.

The misogyny, the racism. Those things will increase not necessarily by the president-elect but because of the president-elect. The David Dukes of the world will feel empowered. The American Nazi Party may see its membership increase marginally. And Trump will need to figure out how to handle likely increases in such violence.

But he also will be busier, I think, trying to find a way to create jobs because that is the quickest way to show he’s real and not simply a reality-star-got lucky.

That’s my hope.


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Our long national nightmare is nearly over

11/7/2016

6 Comments

 
Picture
I once worked for a newspaper whose owner/publisher was, as we used to like to say, “To the right of Attila the Hun.”

He once editorialized against a liberal candidate for Congress by listing about 200 names ranging from Mickey Mouse to Daffy Duck, just the names of people or cartoons who you would never elect to office. The final line of the editorial was “anybody but (candidate’s name).”

The country faces a similar choice today. I could make a list of Hillary Clinton’s flaws and mistakes. I also could fill this post with all the quotes made by Donald Trump in the past year that were offensive, at best. Disgusting at worst.
  
Quotes that, as we live out the final days of our long national nightmare, seem to fade into memory as Trump has adopted his new role – one his advisors have wanted him to assume to for months -- a candidate who reads off the teleprompter, written and maybe believed by others but that is merely a new and temporary script for him, a Machiavellian effort to reach his goal.

The president baits him, Hillary Clinton baits him. But he doesn’t grab the bait as he has done so many times before, going off script to be himself, ranting and raving about Gold Star parents, a disabled reporter, a former Miss Universe, Jews as moneylenders, blacks as living in ghettos, Mexicans as rapists, Muslims as the enemy of the people or words out of his own mouth praising himself and confessing to sexual offenses.

Now that the FBI director has stuck to his July statement that Hillary Clinton won’t be prosecuted over her dumb decision to use a separate email server, though, we’ll see if Trump returns to his childish ways for the campaign’s final day.

He is, after all, a skilled performer both during his TV career and his real estate career. Why should anyone expect less as he insults our 240 years of history, of freedom, of traditions, of accepting electoral losses with humility?

He has been sued hundreds of times and, even though he claims he “never settles and always wins,” he settled often and lost his fair share. In the meantime he didn’t pay his debts, stiffed the average working guy he now claims to champion and has lied his way through life, and this campaign. And this self-proclaimed successful businessman started with a “small” $1 million dollar loan from daddy and went bankrupt six times that we know of (screwing those he owed while increasing his bankroll). And right after Election Day, he will be in court defending his phony Trump University against another hundreds of average folks who believed his lies and got stiffed. Not to mention an alleged child rape case that, okay, I mentioned.

I won’t bore you with all his past lying quotes but here are a few:
  • “If I decide to run for office, I’ll produce my tax returns, absolutely.”
  • “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people who have lots of problems. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
  • To his opponent, Hillary Clinton he promised, that if he is elected president, “you’d be in jail.” Apparently without a trial or formal charges or even an investigation alleging crimes.
  • He has said that all the challenges this country faces, “I alone can fix.”
  • He has ignored the Constitution, pledging to change the laws so he can more easily sue newspapers and TV news outlets.
  • He ignores the Constitution pledging to bring back waterboarding “and worse.”
  •  He pledged to kill the families of terrorists, praised dictators, prefers Vladimir Putin to his own country’s democratically elected leaders, and admires how Saddam Hussein killed people.
  • Of protestors exercising their constitutional right to protest he has said, “Get him out!” and “I’d like to punch him in the nose, I tellya.” A quote that won’t be listed in Bartlett’s anytime soon.

But wait, there’s more!

Trump has said the “system is rigged,” the “election is rigged.” He seems to believe people in our government make things up to suit their purposes. As one who worked in a federal department that put out most of the data measuring the country’s economy from GNP to housing starts, I can tell you – those things are not “rigged.” Statisticians, mathematicians, economists, all career employees not political appointees, put that data together and the political folks have no say in it – at all. What we political appointees did do was try to put the best face on the data as we could at times. I worry though that if Trump ever sat in the Oval Office he would think he was empowered to make things look better than they are and alter the data, completely misleading stock and other markets around the world.

It’s one thing to “spin” information – put it in its best light. It’s another to make it up, and I fear he would think that as president, he had the power do that. The man has done nothing but lie since he entered the race.  He flat out lies.

Ok, ok, I hear you non-Hillary fans saying “she lies more.” Well, based on the independent fact-checkers in this campaign, no, she doesn’t. According to them she does “lie” too, but not nearly as much as Trump does. Helluva way to decide your vote, huh? Who lies least? But that, folks, is the choice.  

There is only one other candidate who can defeat this threat to our democracy and that is, for better or worse, Hillary Clinton – a very flawed candidate but not nearly as flawed as Donald Trump. She also has never been charged with a crime (and I don’t think she’ll be charged with one now), and has been a sloppy administrator at best.

She respects, though, this country’s laws and our place as a leader for peace and democracy in the world. He does not. He would give nuclear weapons to countries that don’t, and shouldn’t, have them and he would break up decades-long security alliances.

 I had another boss, Malcolm Baldrige, who was a very successful industrialist and became secretary of commerce in Ronald Reagan’s administration. After serving a year in the Commerce job, Secretary Baldrige was asked by a Wall Street Journal reporter what he found different serving in the government from serving in the private sector. His answer: “When I was in the private sector, I went to bed at night counting all the good things I helped happen that day. When I go to bed now, I count all the bad things I stopped from happening.”

That’s similar to my feeling about this election. It’s not a good choice. But there is only one choice if you truly believe in our Constitution and our values. I don’t expect to change the minds of any of the folks I know who read this blog and who support Donald Trump. Not many folks have been influenced one way or the other in this campaign.
I do hope, when it’s over, we all still can be friends and try to move this country forward.

I do fear, too, that when Tuesday night comes, if Clinton wins, Trump will not concede gracefully. I don’t think he’ll concede at all. That will be a true disaster to this county and the most damaging bullet he will have fired in this campaign.

For an alleged leader to go down guns ablaze, and call a victory for his opponent “rigged,” will be the very worst thing Donald Trump can do to this country he wanted to lead.

And that would move to the head of a very long list of things he’s done to hurt his country.


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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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