The week started with a note from the Update Desk on my post about 'true followers of Trump" and Dan Scavino, the guy who had the job of riling up the base. Here's Megyn Kelly mentioning him after she was attacked by Trumpers for, you know, asking him questions in an interview.
December 2016: After Trump bullied then-Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly for months, Kelly said that Trump’s social media director was responsible for inciting the many death threats she was receiving. “The vast majority of Donald Trump supporters are not at all this way,” Kelly said, according to the Guardian. “It’s that far corner of the internet that really enjoys nastiness and threats and unfortunately there is a man who works for Donald Trump whose job it is to stir these people up and that man needs to stop doing that. His name is Dan Scavino.”
I updated the post because Scavino, you, see, was just awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.
In light of Scavino's role as Secretary of Offense for the president, and of keeping Trump's social media accounts unpresidential, and of attacking any and all comers, for any number of made-up reasons, it's kind of hard to swallow this line from Scavino's citation:
As a result of his tireless efforts, the United States is safer, stronger and freer.
Safer? Ask any of the Capitol Police officers who were injured during the insurrection. Ask the Vice President, Mother, and their daughter if they felt safe at the Capitol. Ask any of the members of Congress who were trapped, or ask their staffers, barricaded in rooms with Trump supporters banging on the doors trying to get in.
Safer? Hardly.
Your Sunday School included highlights from This Week, including George's interview with Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI), one of the ten Rs who voted to impeach president Trump for his acts vis a vis the insurrection. He talked about that, and offered his thoughts on what President Biden can do to help heal the divide in our country.
Finally, on what incoming President Biden can do to help heal the divide?
I think it's incumbent on both parties to ensure that they are not promoting folks within their ranks who are engaged in a politics of deception, but rather having open, thoughtful, honest, engaged conversations. I hope that President Biden will do the same, that he will not give in to some of the more, you know, some of the lower impulses that -- that folks in the progressive wing may try to bring out, but rather say that this is a time for the country to focus on rebuilding; this is a time for the country to focus on rebuilding trust, rebuilding our institutions, rebuilding governance. You know, we need to get through the pandemic. We need to deal with the economic consequences and the fallout. But we also need to heal all of the divides that have been exposed over the past several years.
George (and everyone else who asks the 'what can Biden do' question) did not follow up on the "lower impulses" of the progressives comment, nor did he ask what the Rs are going to do to help unify the country. Apparently, the media is still not sure what their role is here.
Chris Wallace had Brian Deese, the Biden administration's chief economic advisor, in the Fox News Sunday classroom, and that was the focus of your Extra Credit last week. Here's their exchange on the filibuster.
And if the Rs were to block it, to filibuster the bill, would Biden ask the Senate to get rid of the filibuster? Deese pointed to recent skepticism, about Biden being able to win by calling for unity and working together, or that Congress could pass a bipartisan COVID bill in December. Both of those things happened,
So let's see where we can get here. There is a lot of, again, a lot of elements of this plan that have support across the board, both in Washington and in state capitals and around the country. But we need to act. We need to act quickly. And that's what the economy is telling us. That's what the experts are telling us. And so that's our priority.
So, I guess that means one thing that's off the table is talking about ending the filibuster...
On Wednesday, inauguration day, I offered up My Middle-aged White Lady Perspective on President Biden's inaugural address, and how, with eyes wide open on what's to come, it was such a refreshing change of pace. Here's a slice of that.
It did not have to come to this. It never should have come to this. And a night-and-day different president is what we need, and what we got, and who we heard from today.
What are the common objects we as Americans love, that define us as Americans? I think we know. Opportunity, security, liberty, dignity, respect, honor and yes, the truth.
Opportunity, security, liberty - not "we will make America wealthy again."
Dignity, and respect, and honor. After four years where disrespect was encouraged, and celebrated, and retweeted ad nauseum, we now have a president who will not stand for it. Tonight, when President Biden swore in his appointees, he told them that he would fire them on the spot if he heard they had treated others - anyone - with disrespect.
And yes, the truth.
Not over 30,000 lies or false statements - the truth.
And then, almost before I knew it, it was Friday and time for a TGIF. The theme, appropriately, was goodbye and hello.
We've said goodbye to Executive Orders in lieu of legislation (217 in four years), and hello to Executive Orders in lieu of legislation (30 in three days).
We've said goodbye to long red ties, and we've fallen in love with a pair of mittens.
We've said goodbye to the president who won 306 Electoral College votes in 2016, and hello to a president who won 306 Electoral College votes in 2020, one who must abandon his agenda now in order to create unity with the 74.2 million voters who are upset that 81.2 million other voters picked someone else.
We'll likely learn more about just how hard breaking up with 45 will be as we go into the first full week of the Biden presidency.
See you later for Sunday School. Go Bills, and go Bucs!
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