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Stop pointing fingers and do something

12/28/2018

So the government shut down is all about who’s to blame. Both President Trump and the Democrats on the Hill have made that clear.

Now, I get that politics often is about who’s at fault but this shutdown has seen more discussion about who’s to blame than how to solve it. That was clearest in the Oval Office meeting where Trump, in front of the media and the world, tried to pin Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi down – to blame them. Trump, though, never liking to be challenged – publicly especially – quickly said he’d own it, “I’ll take the mantle,” he said, whatever that means. Schumer smiled smugly knowing he achieved his meeting goal.

So….solved!!! Uh, no.

Trump, once it was explained to him off camera that he mucked up did what he always does – pretended that meeting never happened and moved on on to blame the Democrats.

Good, solved! Uh, no.

Government employees are the pawns in this game as are their banks, landlords and store owners who serve them. Even if some on the Hill think that no one lives paycheck to paycheck, and even if Donald Trump thinks all these employees are Democrats, thus who cares, these are men and women who do difficult jobs made all the more difficult by the current government leadership.

I worked in the government and among many very talented career employees. Were there some duds? Of course, as in any workplace. I got to be best friends with one in particular and, to this day – 35 years later – I don’t know if he was a Democrat or a Republican, or either. I didn't ask. He didn't tell. He just came to work every day and did his job. And helped me do mine.

I knew another employee, very senior, who was “banished” to a lesser office in our department because someone thought he was a Democrat. Honestly, it didn’t matter because even if he was a Democrat, and an active one, there was nothing he could do to change anything the Republican leadership wanted to do anyway.

The blame doesn’t matter. It’s who gets the job done that Americans, including those laid off or furloughed right now, judge their elected officials by.

Through no fault of their own, they can’t do their jobs right now, and probably for a bit longer. Over what? A wall? I think the wall is ridiculous for too many reasons to list here. If I were involved in the discussions right now I, though, likely would cave if I got something decent in return – like dealing with the Dreamers. Even if Trump gets the full $25 billion he’s said he needs to build a wall or steel slats (whatever), it likely will not be built and completed any time soon. Heck, they’ve had over a billion from this year’s budget and haven’t spent it.

It will not be completed by Election Day 2020, as Trump wants – few construction projects are finished on time, from small house jobs to building a wall on the southern border. And, with Trump in charge, based on his private sector performances, this one won’t be done on time either. But he’ll say it was, for sure, Heck, he’s even saying construction has already started. It hasn’t. He claims he awarded a big contract in the Oval the other day. He didn’t. If he had, his people would have released the details by now. Presidents just don’t award contracts (nor should they want to because favoritism will always be charged).

Give him the wall money and get something in return, the Dreamers. A deal that once was on the table and never consummated.

Just quit strategizing ways to blame each other and do something.

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It's time the Hill GOP take Trump seriously

12/22/2018

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If you thought the first two years of President Donald Trump were rampant craziness, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Unless, Republicans in Congress finally get over their selfish ways and put country before anything.

Yes, I’m talking to those of you who came out to mourn the passing of President George H.W. Bush and praise him for his bipartisan approach to the government and as soon as the services were over, went back to wearing blinders.

As we are about to hit the two-year mark of the Trump Administration, we literally are watching this country fall into near disaster.

Defense Secretary James Mattis resigned with a flourish, unlike a career soldier who normally would have more quietly walked into the sunset. But Mattis is a true patriot, pledged to the United States of America, not a two-bit faux-politician. If Mattis’ exit letter didn’t shock the Hill into a new behavior, what will?

President Trump is pulling out troops out of Syria. Now, whether that’s good policy or not can be debated. But what can’t be debated is the slap-dash way the decision was made. Trump was on the phone with the Turkish president who was making his standard case for getting American troops out of Syria and finally Trump said, basically, and this isn’t too far from what he’s reported to have said, “The hell with it, Syria is yours. We’re outta there.” And, getting nothing in return for it.

You may not agree with having our troops on the ground while the fight against ISIS is finished, or the various geopolitical reasons we were there beyond killing ISIS, but to leave and get nothing? To make the decision without consulting your advisors one more time, or the Senators and Congressmen who actually do understand the geopolitics, or our allies who are directly affected by our abandoning the fight? Reckless. Dangerous.

Why? Because there are other countries our troops we are in for similar reasons – not only to fight for the countries and people most directly affected by the bombings and killings and to protect basic human rights but because we fight them there, so they won’t come here – a strategy that’s worked pretty well, until now.

When you see Vladimir Putin praising a U.S. president for a foreign policy decision, you know the wrong decision was made. That’s not a throwaway line – that’s reality.

The President gives his word he will sign a budget agreement to avoid a partial shutdown and two days later, after being pummeled by, get this, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter – talk show entertainers – and some wackos on the Right. he goes back on his word to the Hill and holds out for money to build his silly wall that he promised Mexico would pay for. Plus, do you remember not long after he took office that he asked the then-president of Mexico to go along with the wall, but that it would never be built? I do. Plus an easy majority of Americans oppose the wall.

Trump’s base may love it when he upsets another apple cart but this week proved you need to think before you throw over the cart. The market is in free-fall. Since October, those of us with “portfolios” invested for retirement are down a significant percentage. Will it come back? Normally the market does, but these are not normal times. We have a President who now wants to fire the Federal Reserve chairman he appointed not that long ago because the independent Fed is making decisions Trump doesn’t agree with. That is dangerous.

He’s appointed a temporary Attorney General who thinks like he does except not when prosecutors make independent decisions that Trump sees as hurting him. Then what does he do? He calls the acting AG to complain about it. Wholly inappropriate. The Justice Department is investigating Trump and he calls them to “hint” it needs to be stopped? People, he complains too much about the Mueller investigator for there not to be something there.

There’s more but probably old news by the time you read this, so I won’t list everything going to hell in a hand basket right now.

Our country is facing an extremely dangerous time. And the danger doesn’t come from abroad, it comes from within the White House. Trump has two years under his belt and, while I think he was overwhelmed (as anyone would be) at first, now believes he knows more than anyone thus we are being governed by his gut. He trusts his gut, he says, but he doesn’t trust his foreign policy advisors who keep us safe. He won't read a briefing paper to even pretend he understands a policy before his gut changes it.

He either is the dumbest person to ever hold elected office or he truly is a puppet of the tyrants of the world – Russia, Saudi Arabia, North Korea and others. With our international reputation at its lowest in, well, ever and our economy on the edge of tipping into recession with all of our savings at risk, we have a President who seems to love all the chaos he’s producing. In fact, it emboldens him.

We have a system of checks and balances – but only when those checks and balances are used. Impeachment? I don’t know and doubt this is the right time for that for a variety of reasons. But the Congress can do more – can do something – about checking the Executive’s “power.” Pressure alone would be one thing.

Example? A basic one. The House and Senate could have passed a “clean” bill on the budget – a temporary way to fund the government to punt debates until later – and let the President veto it. The Congress can override a veto – why didn’t they do that a couple of weeks ago when it would have mattered? Instead, the Republicans in Congress caved to the will of Trump, who knows absolutely nothing about appropriately governing this country. Does he have to be like every President before him? No, but there are some good lessons in our 200-plus years of existence. We didn't spring up over night.

I’m not expert of the laws of this country or the rules of the Senate or House, but we have experts in those areas. And we should be using them creatively to stop the madness.

It’s time. It's about to be past time.

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Not Trump's merriest holiday season

12/19/2018

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Being President of the United States in the holiday season should be a fabulous experience.

You host fancy parties for nearly everyone in Washington, D.C., at the world’s most famous address. People stand in line to get a souvenir picture with you. Then you take a few days or more and go to a warmer clime to get some relaxation in, understanding you never take time off from being the President.

This cannot be the merriest of seasons for Donald J. Trump

He still can’t get funding for his most memorable campaign promise, a wall -- that Mexico, not us was supposed to pay for. He said he’d be “proud” to shut down the government if he didn’t get that funding. “Proud!” But as we speak, a deal is being made that will keep the government open and not fund his ridiculous wall.

A poll came out that says a majority of American’s don’t believe what Trump says. The special counsel’s investigation seems to be picking up, not running out of steam. His finances likely are being gone over with a fine tooth comb even after he said going into his family finances was a red line not to be crossed.

In fact, since George H.W. Bush’s death, if it’s possible, Trump gets even smaller in my mind. His tweets aren’t as important on a daily basis, the seldom held White House news briefing are simply lies after lies coming from his press secretary who says she wants her legacy to be that she told the truth and was transparent, a dream long gone. I knew 41 was a fabulous president but hearing his accomplishments repeated for a week and comparing him to the current president just made Bush even bigger in my mind, as Trump became smaller.

The special counsel’s investigation keeps broadening. As that investigation goes on, Trump goes even crazier in his tweets. Needless to say: One doesn’t get that riled when one has nothing to worry about. It may not be collusion (but I’m beginning to believe there was some level of coordination with the Russians); then again it may “simply” be the effect the, I think, 17 investigations into Trump or his various entities (campaign, transition, inaugural, private businesses, his “charity”) have on him because he knows those are going to embarrass him and implicate his kids.

Remember, yesterday Trump and his adult children were banned from serving on charity boards for 10 years because of the way they mismanaged and misused the Trump Foundation. The Trump Foundation spent $7 apparently for his son’s induction fee to the Boy Scouts. But he’s already bragging on things the Foundation did, that it didn’t do. Trump knows there is a there there in his businesses and it must scare the pants off him. The investigations clearly have gone where Trump warned they should not – into his finances. I can only imagine the morass of bad deeds there.

I know, the special counsel investigation was supposed to be about Russian interference in our elections and possible conspiracy with the Trump campaign. But when a prosecutor comes across other crimes, he cannot ignore them.

Plus, The National Enquirer has to be a treasure trove of buried stories about Trump. And the CEO of that outfit is cooperating with the special counsel. We haven’t seen a drip of that leak so far.

Not to mention that the stock market has lost all its 2018 gains, stealing a talking point from Trump about his history-making, in his mind, presidency. The Fed may be about to raise rates, which Trump said they shouldn’t do. So he’ll once again realize that his power as President is not all encompassing, like a tyrant’s.

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Even when he does something good – like finally banning bump stocks – the story doesn’t make the front page because there’s too much news from the investigations.

It can’t have felt good for former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn to stand before a judge and get lectured about his bad, criminal behaviors as a former general and advisor to the President . And it can’t have felt good, either, for Trump and his talking heads on Fox to hear Flynn say under oath in court that yes, he knew lying to the FBI is a crime. The rug was pulled out from under their “narrative” that the Flynn case would show the special counsel’s work for what they think it is – a witch hunt and a perjury trap.

It’s no witch hunt…and it’s not over.

More shoes are likely to drop. While a successful removal from office is unlikely since there won’t be the votes in the Senate even if the House impeaches him, those who said Trump will resign before his term ends (I live with one of those people) may be closer to the truth than I ever imagined.

So, Happy Holidays, Mr. President. And I wouldn’t go looking in your stocking this year. You may find that product you proudly brag about bringing back – coal.

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RIP, President George H.W. Bush

12/1/2018

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President George Herbert Walker Bush’s death is a gut punch.

I was not part of his inner political circle or a close, personal friend. But I knew him for a number of years and worked for him as deputy White House press secretary. If you met George H.W. Bush, he made you feel as if you were in his inner circle. He was the most genuine person I’ve ever known. And nice. And kind. And gentle. And caring. He was a class act. And, above everything, a decent man.

He had great empathy, and cried quickly and sincerely, so often in fact that he would tone down some speeches so he wouldn’t break down in tears. He had a curious mind. He wanted views from many so he could consider all information before making a decision. He loved his country and his fellow citizens.

His death was not a shock, he had been ill, but what is a shock is accepting that this good man is not part of this world anymore. Though he now joins his wife of 73 years, Barbara who died in April, and his young daughter Robin who died from leukemia at age 4 in 1953.

The obits being run all over will give his proud story of service to his country and his fellow men and women, so I won’t repeat all that here. I will tell a few personal stories about him, if you’ll bear with me:

First, while serving as a deputy press secretary to President Reagan, I was among the staff in Santa Barbara, Calif., when the Democrats held their convention in 1988. The late Sen. Ted Kennedy had given a tough speech attacking Vice President Bush and each bullet point he punctuated with “where was George?” as he tried to make the case that Vice President Bush was absent from being involved in anything important The next day, we were preparing for the press secretary, Marlin Fitzwater, to brief the press and we knew Marlin would be greeted with taunts from the press of “where was George?”

He told me to develop a response. It came to me quickly and, while I don’t have at hand a copy of what the statement was, it was a series of statements that began with “I’ll tell you where George was, he was….” And a similar series to Kennedy’s but this time rolling out the VP’s contributions to the Reagan Administration. When Marlin finally read it after waiting for the press to finish its chants, the reporters were silent.

Back in Washington the next week, we were in Marlin’s office, again preparing him for his daily press briefing, when the door opened and Vice President Bush poked his head in to say, “Marlin, that was great! You were the only one out there defending me!” Marlin smiled coyly but said nothing while Bush went on with his compliments. Marlin looked, embarrassed, at me and said, “Mr. Vice President, in truth…B. Jay wrote that.” The Vice President looked at me and said, “B. Jay? B. Jay can write?” and then he left.

Second, I had interviewed to be Bush’s press secretary a couple of times. Once when he was VP and again when he was putting his campaign staff together. Needless to say, I wanted the job. On the VP job, he decided not to fill it right away. On the campaign job, I interviewed with his chief of staff, Craig Fuller, and then with the vice president who made the interview almost a chat between friends. As I said, he had that ability.

A couple of Mondays later the VP’s office said it would be making an announcement of the campaign press secretary that day. A little later, I got a call from Fuller. When I answered I said, I’m guessing since you’re calling me the day of the announcement, I didn’t get the job. No, he said, you didn’t and he told me that Sheila Tate was to be named. I said well, she’s a fine choice but can you tell me why Sheila and not me? Fuller said, at the risk of a lawsuit from you, the honest answer is that the Vice President wanted to name the first woman to the job. Honesty. And, candidly, she was probably a better choice than I was anyway.

Third, even in his post-Oval Office days, “41” was very kind to me. Once, I asked him to be in a film I was working on for a client in my PR firm days, and the day I went to his Kennebunkport (Maine) family summer home to tape it, he came bounding over and said, “guess who I’m about to play golf with!” Not waiting for my guess he said, “Freddy Couples and Davis Love!” and he was honestly excited that he was playing with them, not thinking that the two pros probably were more excited to play with him. The second was when my wife and I asked him if we would author the forward to a book we wrote on my former boss the late Secretary of Commerce Mac Baldrige, who was a close friend of Bush’s for decades. He quickly responded yes. (In fact, it was thanks to Bush that Baldrige was in the Reagan Cabinet.)

Last, in his first year in office, the Republican National Committee was having several months of bad press and bad decisions. They got attention because the brilliant and precocious Lee Atwater was the chairman and someone Bush cared about a lot. The RNC communications director was taking a bullet and resigned from the committee and Bush asked me to take his place. A bit of an awkward career move. Normally folks worked at political committees and then moved on to Administration jobs, not vice versa.

During my exit interview with President Bush he said he appreciated me, in his words, making the sacrifice to go from the White House to the RNC, but, he said, “I need someone with grey hair up there.” I truly appreciated his faith in me and the belief that he thought I had the wisdom to calm things down, but I was 41 years old and the grey I have now had not even peeked through yet.

George Herbert Walker Bush was a fine man and a very good President. He gets more credit as the years go by for his contributions, especially in foreign policy and in getting the Americans with Disability Act passed. For the various accolades he deserves for his long life of public service, he deserves many more for being a good and loyal friend to many.

He was taught by his mother not to brag about himself, ever. And he didn’t, making it a bit difficult when running campaigns to take credit for things.

One last story that says a lot about the formation of such a modest and good man:
When a young man, Bush came home and told his mother, Dorothy, he had scored three goals in a soccer match. Mrs. Bush said, “that’s nice, George, how did the team do?”

Every team he ever was on did well.

RIP, President Bush.

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Stop pointing fingers and do something

It's time the Hill GOP take Trump seriously

Not Trump's merriest holiday season

RIP, President George H.W. Bush

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