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The Screaming Moderate

Catching up with the news

4/4/2019

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(Editor’s Note: The Screaming Moderate has not been published in a few weeks which was either gremlins in the system or me being away from home using a computer that for some reason wouldn’t allow me to publish. Maybe the Gremlins were sending me a message? Anyway apologies. I did miss some big news events which I try to cover in this post.)

Mueller Report. Well, we don’t really know what the full report says because all we have so far is the Attorney General’s (AG) summary of the conclusions. We’re missing the nuance and many facts. Normally if the person isn’t being charged the Justice Department doesn’t release that information, understandably. Clearly this is a different case that has major interest across ideological and political lines. A huge majority of Americans want to see the report. The Congress is doing its best to get the full report released. I never though Trump “colluded” with the Russians but I do believe, from a non-lawyer’s view, that he obstructed justice. The Special Counsel left that call, though, apparently to either the AG or the Congress. The AG chose to make the call. Members of Mueller’s former staff are privately complaining that the AG didn’t release more info. While AG William Barr has a strong record for high integrity, he followed DoJ policy and didn’t release more info. We need to see that information. The likely result will be half the country will believe one thing, the other half another. But transparency is mandatory in this case.

Joe Biden space invader. The big noise this week is the former vice president’s invading (mostly) women’s space with his personal approach to politics. No one is accusing Biden of sexual aggressiveness. He has said he’s now learned about invading someone else’s space and will improve in that area. He needs to but he also means nothing by his style. I’ve experienced it myself. His style is genuine. As empty as President Trump is of empathy, Biden has it in barrels. His physical behavior, though, is  of another era. He may try to change but it’ll be hard since it is who he is. In any event, Biden is of a different era in many other ways too. Some good, some whose time has passed. He was never a successful or good campaigner for the presidency.   He indeed is of another era and I wish he’d pass on this campaign and remain an elder in the party  and the country whose voice is listened to. Another unsuccessful effort would lessen his stature. And it’s past time to hane over the keys to a different generation.

Hill investigates Trump. While the Congress is correct in pursuing President Trump’s tax returns and more info on how he conducts his commercial businesses, in a way they are playing into Trump’s strength: stall, lie, and litigate. He can run enough stalls and file enough litigation to easily get him past his re-election bid, at least. And that’s what he will do. I don’t know what his truth is but I, along with many others, suspect he has done some illegal things in his past and dealt with some less than honorable people, intentionally. Unfortunately for Trump, once those things are uncovered his presidency’s legacy will be based less on what he may have accomplished and more on his lies to get and maintain power. 

Mueller report aftermath. One good result from the Mueller investigation being over is that the news coverage will be less on that and more on what the various agencies are and have been doing in this Administration. That’s a good thing because many of the Cabinet members have been pursuing policies that are at best questionable and at worse very bad for the country and the environment. Trump may believe that wind power isn’t good because “the wind isn’t always blowing,” or climate change will reverse its effects on its own but his policies on those issues, the courts, and regulation alone will cause serious and possibly irreversible problems for the country and the world, and our kids and grandkids.

Michael Avenotti. Here’s a guy whose ego may have overtaken his greed. He actually thought he could run for president. Lord. Another result of a Trump presidency is everyone thinks he or she is qualified to be president.

Trump and free speech. So, the President thought he needed to sign an executive order to guarantee free speech on college campuses. Obviously, the Constitution already had that covered. But Trump thinks it isn’t so unless he makes it so, I guess.

Democratic primary.  It’s “Olly olly oxen free” when it comes candidates seeking the Democratic nomination to be the standard bearer in 2020. We thought Republicans won the “everyone in the pool” bet in 2016. Democrats should learn from the 2016 GOP race which ultimately gave us Donald Trump. I’m not sure who the Trump of the Democrats is. Trump really didn’t have much a belief set before he was elected. On the Democrat side, many are saying that Sen. Bernie Sanders could be the Trump of the Democrats. For one thing, he isn’t even a Democrat but he feels empowered to tell that party what it’s doing wrong and to seek their nomination. And he may. For reasons similar to Biden, Sanders is of another era and another set of political beliefs. While Trump may be the crazy old uncle at holiday dinner, Sanders may be the angry old uncle. 

 

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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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