Sunday School 8/23/20

I'm only visiting two classrooms today -- Jake Tapper's CNN State of the Union, and Margaret Brennan's Face the Nation on CBS.

I'm trying to save some appetite for the Biden/Harris interview later tonight on ABC, which will be the subject of your Extra Credit this week.

Let's get started with Tapper and Chad Wolf, the perhaps not legally acting head of the Department of Homeland Security. Here are the highlights:

The president "absolutely has not" discussed deploying any DHS folks as part of the team of law enforcement officers he threatened to send to be poll watchers.

We have law enforcement authorities and law enforcement officers at the department. We have express authorities given to us by Congress. And this is not one of them.

Wolf has no intelligence that supports the presidents claim that other countries - Russia, China, Iran, North Korea among them - might forge ballots and send them in, or that they are "attacking election infrastructure."

And we want to make sure, at the end of the day, that voters, American voters, are deciding American elections. And we will continue to do that to make sure, again, that secretaries of state -- again, states run elections -- that they have all the information, that they have the intelligence, and they have a number of no-cost services that the department provides to them to make sure that their election systems are safe and secure.

On comments from Miles Taylor, former DHS Chief of Staff, Wolf said

...while Mr. Taylor was at the department, he was a fierce advocate for the policies that we pursued at DHS every day, left there 14 months ago, and decided 75, 80 days before an election to start speaking out. So, I think most reasonable Americans understand what that is. It's politics, and nothing more.

They batted around some of Taylor's comments, including that Trump told top DHS officials to "listen to Lou Dobbs" and "what Lou says is what I want to do."

... no, I have never been told to watch Lou Dobbs or any other news show, even yours, to get what we want to do at the Department of Homeland Security. 

And on Tapper's noting that Taylor is not the first former DHS person to question Trump's judgment and ability to lead the country? 

...All of the individuals that you just discussed were strong proponents of what the department's doing, and the president, while in office. A number of them have left, some on their own, some not on their own... So, again, I think people understand what this is about. This is about politics, first and foremost. And it's unfortunate.

Speed round stuff: 

• He believes the GAO used the wrong policy to come up with its assertion that he's not legally qualified to hold his position, and that DHS "vehemently disagree" with the finding.
• Yes, he did visit the part of the border wall built by the charity at the heart of the Bannon arrest;  he said then, and still, that "he welcomes all that want to be part of the solution," but was not an endorsement of 'We Build the Wall'  and statements to the contrary are false.
• He doesn't have "any reason to believe anything different from the FBI" on QAnon being a domestic terror threat - but it's not a significant threat. And, he absolutely condemns any illegal activity associated with the group.
• He believes that some local officials, a governor, and others are "fostering an environment in Portland, 90 days straight of violent clashes with law enforcement, assaults, arrests, and injuries. And it's got to stop."

Sunday School 10/21/18

Let's do a quick stroll through the classrooms.

First up: Kentucky's junior senator Rand Paul and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich talking with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.

Speaking on the credibility of the statement from the Saudi government that Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi was killed in a fistfight or some such nonsense, Paul said the statement was "absolutely" not credible, noting

I think it's insulting to anyone who's analyzing this with any kind of intelligent background to think that oh, a fistfight led to a dismemberment with a bone saw. So, no. 

He went on to suggest putting the attack on Khashoggi into context.

Saudi Arabia has basically over the decades been the largest state sponsor of radical Islam and violent jihad. They sponsor thousands of madrassas that teach hatred of Christians and Jews and Hindus around the world. So, this isn't the first instance. This is just another in the line of long instances of Saudi insults to the civilized world. 

And, in sharp contrast to the president,

I think we really need to discontinue our arms sales to Saudi Arabia and have a long and serious discussion about whether or not they want to be an ally or they want to be an enemy. 

Similarly, Gingrich did not mince words.

First of all, their explanation is insultingly stupid. I mean, the idea that this guy walked in the room with 15 security people, got in to a fight and was accidentally killed and they happened to have apparently an ability to dismember hm and get rid of him... This is just stupid.

Next up, Senator Dick Durbin, the Senate Minority Whip,North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis and former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci on Meet the Press with Chuck Todd.

As did Wallace, Todd asked if there was anything credible in the Saudi's story. Durbin was clear no the lack of credibility, and our next steps:

No, and as a matter of fact, the only person on earth outside of the Saudi Kingdom who appears to accept it is president Donald Trump. Here's what we ought to do, and we ought to do it tomorrow morning. We ought to expel - formally expel the Saudi ambassador from the United States until there is a completion of a third party investigation into this kidnap, murder and God knows what followed that occur ed in Istanbul. We should call on our allies to do the same. 

Tillis was also asked the question.

No, not at this point. I agree with everything Dick Durbin just said. We've, we've got to get to the bottom of it. In Saudi Arabia, you do not do something of this magnitude without having clearance from the top. We need to find out who that is and hold him accountable. 

Todd asked whether or not the US could have a positive relationship with the Saudis if the crown prince was still in the picture.

No, I don't think so.  I think, again, if the facts lead to what we all suspect they will, I think it'll be very problematic for our relationship going forward.

In the interview with Scaramucci, Todd asked how Dems should go after Trump when he insults them. After professing to not want to offer the opposition any information, due to his love for the president, The Mooch opened up a little:

...I think the big mistake they're all making is they go right into the Trump insect Twitter light. And so the minute he shoots at them, they cannot help themselves. And they drive themselves right into that light. And then they get vaporized by him...

The answer, he tells us? Read his book.

And so the incident with Senator Warren, she should really read my book, so she can understand how the president, you have to think about the miracle of what he did. He hijacked the Republican Party to get their nomination. And then he hijacked the base of the other party and moved it over to the Republican party. And I try to write about that in the book. Because I have experience, as a kid that grew up in a blue-collar neighborhood with a blue-collar family. And I think I've seen the whole bandwidth of this sort of stuff. 

Oh wait - that's not really his recommendation, after all.

But my recommendation to people is don't engage him in that area because you're going to lose.

And on that happy note, we'll call it a day. 

See you around campus.

Sunday School 7/29/18

Just a couple of classrooms today -- Fox News Sunday to hear from Steven Mnuchin, Trump's Treasury Secretary, and CNN's State of the Union, because Anthony Scaramucci.

First, Mnuchin. Wallace asked him if the report on the 2nd quarter GDP - 4.1% - was something that was sustainable, and if the president's suggestions that we could see 8% or 9% growth realistic.  Not so much, it seems.

Well, Chris, we've been very clear since the campaign, the president's economic plan has always consisted of tax reform, trade relief and regulatory relief and we said we're going to achieve 3% or higher sustained GDP, and that's where we are. The 4%, 4.1% was a terrific order, but we are very focused on the long-term sustained economic growth, which our plans have had. 

Wallace noted that the 2nd quarter was when farmers were pumping out exports in advance of the Trump tariffs and that the Federal Reserve is not so bullish on the growth, predicting we'd be back around 2% within two years. And, he talked about both Trump and Veep Mike Pence sticking their noses in the conversation about the Fed's intent to raise interest rates. Wallace wondered about whether the administration respects the Fed's independence.

Well, Chris, I think they do and we as an administration absolutely support the independence of the Fed and the president has made it clear that this is the Fed's decision. So, these are really more just comments saying as interest rates are going up, it's something that the president has a concern. But let me be clear, he respects the independence of the Fed, and the issue is the market expects interest rates to keep going up. So, the only question is how far, and for how long? And we think the Fed will be very careful in managing the economy.

They also talked about tech stocks, what with the Facebook and Twitter drops this week. Wallace wondered about investors souring on social media tech stocks, since they've been such big drivers of both economic growth and of the rise in the stock markets. Mnuchin pointed out that diversified portfolios are great investments and that

As you can see, the market is not efficient. The fact that you could have a one-day correction of these magnitudes just goes to show you that in the short term, the market is not necessarily efficient, but I'm not concerned about this at all. 

And, of course, they talked about trade, and agriculture. On that last part, Wallace pointed out previous comments made by Mnuchin that were against corporate welfare, and asked

So, when did handouts to farmers become strong, good, solid, conservative policy?

Mnuchin doesn't think the $12B bailout (bale-out, it's been called) is a handout.

So, it would be one thing if we were just subsidizing markets, and that's not what we are doing here. This is a -- this is a short-term solution to deal with the retaliatory tariffs where you have people who put tariffs, which, by the way are against WTO rules and unfair and targeting our farmers. So, we are sticking up for our farmers so they don't get hurt in these trade discussions. These are not long-term subsidies for the industry... the focus is trade, not aid...

Focus - that's a key word on which to segue to the conversation with The Mooch - because focus is something that seems missing in this interview. For example, Tapper asked if Scaramucci thought Michael Cohen was a liar, as Rudy Giuliani now says.

And so, when I said that, I meant that, because I - I had known Michael for 10 years, known the president for a very long time. And my- my guess what is that they were very loyal to each other. When your house gets raided and your apartment and your hotel room gets raided and you get jarred by the FBI, maybe that has changed now...

But look, at the end of the day, you're -- you're in the biggest aquarium in the world. The White House is literally like a fishbowl, and everybody's micro-analyzing every single thing that's happened to you in your life, which is one of the main reasons why people, Jake, don't run for office, because they don't like every single thing that they have done in their lives put on State of the Union. 

So -- so, here we are now. My - my guess is, is that this is a rift that will continue. I'm not exactly sure what the criminality is here. To me, it doesn't look like it's criminal,when I step  back and look at it and try to look at it objectively. And I think the president's probably very frustrated because he's got a great economic plan going. He's got great things going on, whether it's in North Korea or the potentiality for a deal with the EU now. And so this is one of those side-tracking things and I think it has to be very frustrating. 

So: is Michael Cohen a liar? Who the heck knows. The rest of the interview went similarly, as you might have expected.

See you around campus.

Sunday School 12/31/17

I was taking a stroll through the hallways today, thinking I'd make one last stop in each of our Sunday School classrooms. But I started - and stopped - with CNN's State of the Union.

Why? Well, call me crazy but it seemed appropriate to end the year with someone interviewing Anthony Scaramucci. 

Yep - that Anthony Scaramucci, the one who once called Trump a "hack politician" and an "inherited money dude from Queens County" and who gave that  super focused interview with CNN back in July, in which he was super focused on telling us what the president was super focused on.

Today, the Mooch was talking with Dana Bash, for reasons that I will likely never understand. I mean, you're CNN - the most reviled network in the country, at least with the president and his followers.  You're number one with a bullet on the #FakeNews list, for cripes sake - and so you end the year talking to a guy who worked for the administration for 11 days before going down in flames because of his inability to control what he says to reporters?  I can only imagine that Ivana Trump or Marla Maples were unavailable to offer their opinions on how the president feels about year one.

That was Bash's first question - how is the president feeling about his first year in office?

Listen, I think the president feels great. I talked to him last Monday. And he's very happy with what happened as it related to the tax reform bill that was put in place recently. And so, listen, I think you got - 2018 is going to be a big year, a big year for the Republicans.

Honing in on the tax reform question, Bash wondered if the president was punishing Blue states in the tax bill, with the SALT provision, which limits the deductions for state and local taxes. Trump implied he could have worked with the Dems on taxes. Scaramucci knows the answer on this one, he does.

I think all the president's saying there is that there are always chips on the table for bargaining purposes. And so, because they weren't willing to deal with him, a lot of the chips that they could have used were left on the table. 

And so that is actually a signal from the president. He's trying to signal the Democrats that he's ready to work with them, and that whatever chips are on the table for health care or for DACA, he's there to negotiate with them. 

I mean, I think that's been the hallmark of his entrepreneurial success as a business leader, is being a great negotiator, and I think he's just trying to signal to these guys, listen, there's stuff that we can do together. 

As it relates to the SALT situation, I know people on the Democratic side will say that was a punishment for the blue states. I don't think anybody sees it that way. I think we're past that as it relates to tax strategy the good relationship with Secretary Mnuchin.

The goal there was just basically to find ways to lower the overall rate, but then also make everybody a little big more competitive and accountable on their budgets at the state and local level.

So -- so to me, I think, long term, that is probably short-term states for - short-term pain for the states like the one I live in, New York. But, long term, I think it will make those states more adaptive, aggressive, and leaner and more entrepreneurial. So I think it's a good thing, by and large.  

They talked a little about the FBI and the president's attack on the agency, as well as attacks from other Republicans; Scaramucci thinks it's just the president expressing some "frustration" but Bash wondered whether it's really Trump being worried about the outcome of the investigation.

After discounting that, and referencing the NY Times interview about how "he expects the investigation of Mueller to treat him very fairly" he offered some insight.

So, I'm not worried about it. I don't think he's woried about it. I think he's frustrated about it. I think he doesn't like the scandals incorporated that go on in Washington, where we find the scandal du jour to try and distract our political opponents from their agendas by picking on them personally.

And so I think that has got to stop on both sides, frankly. I have said that if Senator Clinton had become president, they would be attacking her on her emails, they would be attacking her on Uranium One. 

Washington has this magnificent way of finding scandals to hit people with to distract them from their agendas. The great news about the president is, he's undistracted, he's undeterred and I think he is going to have a phenomenal 2018.

There was more after that, but there's really no point in going any further.

Because while Scaramucci  may have convinced the folks at CNN that he's still close to the president, I'm not sure that's really true. Heck, I could have given any of the answers that Scaramucci did - all you have to do is watch the news.

And the answer about the "scandal du jour" and the fact that if Clinton has been elected she'd be attacked on Uranium One and her emails -- good lord, the email stuff has never stopped and Trump himself has been hammering on the Uranium One issue. News broke today that AG Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III has ordered an investigation, as was promised last month.

The Mooch would know that, and CNN certainly should know that -- and certainly should have questioned it, instead of letting it lie like a sleeping dog.

Closing out 2017 with this guy sort is a perfect way to wind things down. And allowing interviews like this to stand without questioning the easy stuff is something that hopefully we'll see less of in the coming year.

See you around campus.

Wondering on Wednesday (v97)

I had such high hopes for this Wednesday - because (at least until this past Monday) we had the Mooch, and that almost ensured there would be wondering galore, on all kinds of fun NSFW communications things. And then? Yeah, that chief-of-staff thing happened.

Reince Priebus is out (blissfully, I can go back to 'i' before 'e' except after 'c'), said Trump, and now we've got one of His Generals, John Kelly, #JoeBidenliterally taking control over the West Wing. I heard the door to the Oval is now closed, to all those folks who had walk-in privileges to Trump: Jared, Ivanka, Steve, Steve, Steve, Kelly Anne, Mike, Donny, Eric, Sean, Sarah, Steve... I wonder how long that will all last?

In addition to curtailing the walk-in privileges, it appears The General was unafraid of going to battle early with The Family, as we were told Scaramucci was brought in at their behest. I can kind of understand why they might have wanted him: who else to take the heat off the brash New York president than a brash New York communications director? I mean, someone who professes to be able to grab someone else's genitals with reckless abandon could only be represented by someone bold enough to discuss another person's proclivity to, well, "Bannon" himself, right?  Wrong, said The General, and The Mooch was gone.

Meanwhile, outside all of the palace intrigue there's a lot going on. We learned that at least some people think the President was personally responsible for spreading misinformation about son Donny's meeting with a bunch of Russians. It seems Trump dictated the language used in one of the early explanations for the meeting at Trump Tower that really only occurred because dirt was offered on Hillary. I wonder, does anyone really think that a Trump would take a meeting during the campaign to talk about adoption issues with Russian children?  Of course not. Donny took the meeting, and Jared went along, because they thought they were getting the goods.

If true (and I have no trouble believing it is), would it count as obstruction? And if not an actual crime, would it count as a high crime and misdemeanor?

Along similar lines, we learned that there's little interest on the part of the Secretary of Health and Human Services in enforcing the Affordable Care Act, particularly now that repeal and replace was quashed in the Senate by the thumbs down vote of  John McCain. HHS has already severely curtailed advertising, and has shortened the open enrollment window; both of these are considered attempts to make the ACA a failure.

And the president himself is doing his darnedest to make it a failure, too: threatening to end 'insurance company bailouts' which is what he calls the cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments made to insurers to offset the costs of providing essential health benefits for subscribers meeting certain income thresholds. This, of course, causes 'uncertainty' in the marketplace, making it more volatile and driving up premiums, which fulfill Trump's prophecy about the implosion of the ACA.

Again, I wonder: not an actual crime, but maybe a high crime or misdemeanor?

Lastly, today the president turned his lonely eye to America's legal immigration woes. He's supporting a proposal to cut in half the volume of legal immigrants allowed in our country, and requiring a point system which will prioritize English-speakers who are job-ready and can support themselves, but who won't steal jobs from Americans.

I'm not sure what impact this will have on the president's propensity for hiring foreigners to clean his resorts, park the cars of rich people, and serve them drinks. Or, for that matter, how we justifies cutting legal immigration in half at the same time he bumped up the limit on visas for folks like he hires at his resorts, and like those who pick the food we eat.

I wonder - when will the weight of the rampant conflicts between "do as he says" and  "'do as he does" start to impact his supporters and their opinion of him?

Sunday School 7/23/17

The Mooch hit the Sunday talk shows, and man, he has a way with words.

On Fox News Sunday, here's what Anthony Scaramucci, Trump's new communications director, told host Chris Wallace about his plans:

So, my three simple things is I would like to reset the culture inside the comms department so that people recognize that I'm actually there to serve them, and they're going to be working with me, not for me. That's a very big distinction. And that all of us are there to serve the president of the United States and his agenda.

So first for me is I want to hit a cultural reset button, second thing is we've got to get the leaks stopped. If we don't get the leaks stopped - I am a businessperson and so, I will take dramatic action to stop those leaks.

And the third thing is I'll be traveling with the president this week and we're going to focus and refine the messaging from the White House. He's one of the most effective communicators that's ever been born and we're going to make sure that we get that message out directly to the American people and I think that albatross spread, the gap between how certain people think of him and how I see him - or say like someone like Ivanka sees him, that will start to narrow soon.

 Um, I can't possibly imagine wanting to think of the president the way the Mooch does (which is apparently a bromance of massive proportions) and I want even less to think of him as my Daddy.

Scaramucci gave us this, too, about the president's agenda:

This is a president - this is a jobs president. This is a president who's going to help middle class families, lower middle class families.

 You want to talk about gaps, Chris? There is a wide income gap that many elites do not feel, but the president feels it. And members of his staff feel it. And people in the middle of America feel it. And you know what we're going to do? We're going to put policies together that close that gap.

If people want to talk about these nonsensical scandals, I'll let them do that, but I'm going to be missile-locked on focusing on the president's agenda, and helping people to understand the president the way I know him and the way I love him.

"Love, love me do, you know I love you, I'll always be true..." Oh, puh-LEASE!!

On CNN's State of the Union, he was super focused on telling us what Trump is super focused on. It's not Twitter, though - honest.  Full disclosure: I added the emphasis, so you could really feel the love.

He is super focused on his agenda, OK? He is super focused on getting the health care reform passed. He's super focused on working on tax reform, the two main pillars of what we're going to do this year. 

He's super focused cleaning out all the deregulation -- unnecessary regulation in the United States. He's super focused on manufacturing jobs, 50,000 new manufacturing jobs and getting people back to work in the United States. That's the stuff he's super focused on.

I'm super focused on getting out of this classroom. See you around campus.

Trump in Transition (v19)

Hanging out on the porch, listening to the birds, and letting my mind wander to the latest 'transition' by the president.

Trump has hired a NY big money loudmouth, Anthony Scaramucci, to be his new director of communications.Here's some of what we learned about "the Mooch" in  The Atlantic:

The Wall Street financier and former Obama donor once called then-candidate Trump “a hack politician,” a big-mouthed “bully,” and “an inherited money dude from Queens County” and backed two other Republican presidential contenders, Scott Walker and Jeb Bush, before embracing Trump as the party’s nominee.

And, we're told, this son of a construction worker has a background very similar to Trump's:

Like Trump, he parlayed business success into celebrity by writing books, appearing on cable news, and even hosting his own financial show. He and the president also share a lack of ideological rigidity, which meshes with the business-first ethos of the Wall Street veterans in the White House while clashing with GOP stalwarts like Priebus and Sean Spicer, the press secretary who resigned as a result of Scaramucci’s hiring.

Congratulations to Spicer on finally getting out. Why it took getting a new boss for him to rise to the occasion is between him, the bushes and his Easter Bunny but we all have our own last straw, and at least it's over now. He's safe, and we can move on.

Speaking of moving on, what do you say when you accidentally bump into someone? Pardon me is going to be my go-to phrase.

According to this Washington Post article,

Some of president Trump's lawyers are exploring ways to limit or undercut special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's Russia investigation, building a  case against what they allege are his conflicts of interest and discussing the president's authority to grand pardons, according to people familiar with the effort. 

Trump has asked his advisers about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the probe, according to one of those people. A second person said Trump's lawyers have been discussing the president's pardoning powers among themselves. 

#Whatthesniff  is going on? Maybe he's bored from tweeting and beating the Fox News - CNN - MSNBC buttons to death on his TV remote?

The irony of the most interest-conflicted president, first family, and administration in living memory expressing concern over anyone else's potential conflicts of interest is beyond laughable, isn't it? And,
lest they forget, President Clinton was impeached because of activities related to a semen stain on a blue dress worn by someone other than his wife, not for activities associated with a land deal called Whitewater.

These investigations go where they will and the chips fall where they may - and the president messes with that at his peril (at least in normal times...). 

Finally, let's turn to Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, who is in need of a transition himself. Sessions, you'll recall, recused himself from Russia - Trump investigations or anything else related to the Trump campaign, to remove any potential issues with impartiality.

This week Trump, in a rambling conver(...oh, pardon me, I mean in an interview) with the New York Times, said this about whether the AG had given him a heads up about the recusal:

Zero. Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself. I then have -- which, frankly, I think is very unfair to the president. How do you take a job and then recuse yourself?  If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said "Thanks Jeff, but I can't, you know, I'm not going to take you." It's extremely unfair, and that's a mild word, to the president. So he recuses himself then I end up with a second man, who's a deputy... 

Does Trump even know what recusal means, or what the AG does? And, until the potential ethical issues stemming from campaign-related activities were exposed, from what could Sessions have recused himself?

I suppose, in his interview for the job, he could have said to Trump,

Listen, you and I both know you ran a shady campaign; we both know your family and advisers, including me, acted like morons and may have broken some laws when we kissed up to Russia with your full knowledge and approval. That's gonna hurt when it all comes out, and we both know it will.  When it does I'll need to step back to protect you. Any issues with that? 

Trump, who hired Mike Flynn knowing his shady background, wouldn't have cared, I'm sure. But Sessions didn't do that, and he paid the price this week. He insists he will continue to serve as our Attorney General.

I have the honor as serving as attorney general, it's something that goes beyond any thought I would have ever had for myself. We love this job, we love this department and I plan to continue to do so as long as that is appropriate.  

Yeah --  it's no longer "appropriate" to stay on. Take a cue from your recusal statement, and bow out before it gets any worse.

During the course of the last several weeks, I have heard that the president is miffed at and confused by my trying to be ethical while helping promote his law enforcement agenda. Most recently, in an interview with the New York Times, he laid bare his distaste for my taking an ethical stand to protect his administration.

Having concluded that neither I nor anyone else has any idea what the president will do or say next, and given his obvious lack of regard for ethics in general, I have decided to resign from my position as attorney general.

This announcement should be interpreted as confirmation that I would rather be an unemployed ethical person than an appointee of this president.  

And then, he and Sean Spicer can go have a beer.